The Left is tribal. It needs to believe that its people are good and anyone who disagrees is evil. There is no Left otherwise.
The moment someone strays from the plantation, it is absolutely necessary to condemn them as evil. If the Left did otherwise, it would have to defend the rightness or wrongness of positions on merit.
This week a young college student I know (everybody is young to me) recounted a recent political discussion in class where he pointed out that both sides were correct and in agreement about enough of the issues being discussed it was possible to find common ground and solutions. He was roundly attacked by both sides.
The "psychic infection" being perped by the grift is to hold, in our case We the People, hostage to a manufactured national narrative that prevents the truth/fact based conversation that would produce the truth/fact based American reality that would create solutions and a path forward for our Republic. It's blatant obfuscation. As demonstrated by the nothing to do with the topic at hand attack on Matt in this weeks hearing. The Congresswoman was using the decades old misandrist Marxist feminist all men are rapists ploy. Feminist scorched earth cultural genocide (now the DEI) has been joined at the hip with the globalist surveillance totalitarianism the committee was there to discuss since day one. For them it's about getting paid and We the People be damned.
My view once again: Subscription journalism, truth/fact based reporting is helping us build the truth/fact based reality our Republic deserves.
Your claims about "feminism" are bizarre. Regardless, you're using a term so broad now that on any day I can see someone blaming "feminists" for capitalist overreach and blaming "feminists" for "communism."
Radical feminists since the 1970s to the present have partnered w/ conservative women (& men) on several causes, unlike the more elite "liberal feminists" who merged w/ male-centered misogynistic left parties by the 1980s and whose agenda never extends past anything that might threaten misogynistic leftist (now gay or trans-identified) men in the room. Hence women trying to make it in professions of journalism, academe & law either had to shut up about serious causes they cared about a great deal (like serial trafficking of poor kids & women of color & selling them to other men, then filming the rapes & circulating them). They could work on creating rape crisis & battered women's shelters, or raise awareness about how many poor women got fired for refusing to sleep w/ their boss--but they couldn't push to research or report on it, not for decades. AND, the women who really succeeded after the male-serving Sexual Revolution either began to believe they could become honorary men by adopting their values, or didn't care about the contradictions.
And this isn't "all men." But the misogyny among some male leftists simply rearranged a lot of traditional male privileges to allow them to get even more of them while pretending to care about women & kids.
Hence you've got a Barbara Walters in a 1977 interview of Dolly Parton mocking Parton for her sexual attractiveness, calling her a "joke," b/c that's how the misogynistic, porn-consuming, sexually exploitative editors in her profession saw Parton. Walters thought she could escape the same contemptuous ridicule if she joined in--becoming "serious". Likewise, 1980s ACLU female lawyers were the first to fight CIVIL legislation that passed a few municipalities in the mid 1980s to enable victims coerced into circulated pornography to have it taken off the market & to sue their rapists & profiteering pimps. Why, that violates the First Amendment, they said! The arguments for the legislation were basically the same ones now: REVENGE PORN! LACK OF CONSENT! HAVING YOUR RAPE CIRCULATED IN PERPETUITY.
But see, for these elitist liberal feminists, those rape victims weren't real. They were just the ideas the leftist men said they were, until social media enabled THEM to be treated the same way. The idea that Linda Marciano, who'd been repeatedly raped & beaten by her brutal pimp husband (who'd threaten her family on a regular basis & sold her to gross Playboy mansion movie stars) then filmed during several of them, didn't consent--and THAT HER HUMANITY MATTERED MORE THAN A MALE ORGASM--was ludicrous to the sneering, chuckling men who watched it. Thus these ACLU women wanted to prove how "objective" and "sexually liberated" they were, how unlike those "square" women or 'lesbians" who "hated sex." Until THEY became targets of nonconsensual porn.
Despite simplistic smearing, the real commonality between serious radical feminists who emerged during the Second Wave like Dworkin (who'd been beaten & pimped before in her teens & early 20s) & conservative women (& some men) was that they SAW the victims of these acts as FULL HUMAN BEINGS. Radical means root: and essentially, it's meant then & now that you SEE the see sexual predation & misogynistic abuse of women, children, or other men, raw--including the transmisogynistic predation happening today. You see humans first, & observe gendered dynamics w/o shying away, including how women can internalize & externalize misogyny to get elite status. People who're serious about justice--including gender critical feminists--don't get to pick winners and losers based on their politics, skin color, criminal hx, educational level, or geography. Otherwise you're just a special interest group, who'll put your "Party" or whatever compromised platform ahead of these fundamental values.
The handmaiden enablers of autogynephiliac predators today, who also ignore illegal immigration b/c it doesn't threaten their secure communities & ensures they have poor women to clean their toilets, have the same mentality. Their concern about sexual harassment is conditional, as a smear to weaponize & thereby please the leftist men in the room. It's like fighting rape while laughing about rape in male prisons. Or criticizing Hamas w/o saying out loud that raping boys is integral to their snuff-terrorism (& mentioning the epidemics among Orthodox Jews as well.)
DEITQ+ is an elitist backlash movement. It's has no more relationship w/ serious feminism that enabled battering & rape victims to have legal protections than it does w/ mid-century civil rights marches. These people are cowardly, status-seeking, self-serving grifters who're coopting concepts & language they ridiculed 30 yrs before. Blaming a movement that enabled women to have their own bank accounts & escape abusers for WEF totalitarianism is another form of misogyny.
I am a 2nd Wave radical feminist, was an activist during the Seventies and Eighties. We find ourselves in online communities and some political coalitions now that are an awkward fit to say the least. On the left I find young women who are very preoccupied with the evils of "Patriarchy," but who actually are tyrants themselves, particularly against women who refuse to pay tribute to their ideology and its deities.
Young woke feminists are horrible to straight guys as well, and those men believe they have been mistreated by "feminists," which causes them to become more hostile towards "feminism." A male colleague mansplained to me that I am not a feminist, that I regard myself as one inaccurately. If he gets to decide who the feminists are, I would agree with him that I am not "a feminist" by Gen Z standards. But the word "feminist" and the word "woman" are too important to turn over to a juvenile cult, so I insist on keeping their original meanings.
I am a woman proud to say I have never been a feminist. The whole ideology really repelled me from the start, even as a girl.
Then I grew up and learned all about Neo-Marxist ideologies. Feminism was simply one of their core indoctrinations to be pushed out onto the gullible Baby Boom youth. Excellent move toward social destruction of the West.
And if you insisted it made them liberal progressives -- very complimentary -- it appealed to their vanity too!
But for those whose lives have been overtaken by being feminists, they are unlikely to agree with this or to be able to let it go.
Interesting post and excellent argument. I don,t even know what “feminist” means so I don't use the word as an identifier. You are describing my idea of basic human decency.
That's because it has become an ideological battleground that's been forever fouled by academics.
Academic feminism is as poisonous to a compassionate rational mind as Communism, which is no surprise since they have been stitched together in Frankenstein fashion.
Lowen Gore here points out that actual attempts to ensure women are treated fairly, equally, and properly defended from predation and abuse have been obscured by the political nonsense adopted by rich dimwits and their spawn going to elite colleges.
What the ideal relationship between men and women might be, and what sort of mating arrangements are best for a healthy society is another matter and will probably never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
I think it boils down to one thing - American women have a serious problem with admitting mistakes. This is a human issue that's seems worse with Americans, and substantially worse with American women.
American women, obviously for naive reasons, wanted the same things men had. Even though most husbands came home every day and at least complained a lot, and probably frequently ranted about the horrors of the world they were trapped in, with some actually getting violent, alchoholism, drug addiction, etc. Still, American women wanted a piece of it.
They got a piece of it. How's it taste, Ladies? Not so great, huh? Now they WILL NOT admit they were wrong in wanting in to the devils triangle. They have to be right, even if it means complete destruction. That seems to be the current road American women are on.
"Feminism" itself is bizarre. Very similar to Communism in that it was designed to lure in masses of Useful Idiots who would then get the fence painted as In "Tom Sawyer". While the social engineers of this scam sat back smugly and laughed.
Why are the issues associated with these men always attributed to their maleness, as opposed to their faults as human beings? Many women are faulty too, but this is described, generally, as an issue of that particular individual rather than the entire sex.
Feminism as it was sprung on society in the late 60s/70s, and has been ongoing in one form or another, has caused far more damage to mankind than the faults which men are supposed to have....according to feminism. For example, there have been over 63 million abortions in the U.S. since the original Roe v. Wade. Presumably it was women in the majority of cases who decided on these abortions. And no, you cannot skirt this issue by claiming that an unborn child is not human. That was only ever just a deceitful manipulation tactic. If we are comparing the propensity and the acts of violence for each sex....I would say that women come out far ahead here, wouldn't you?
Women who are bad for men are usually bad for other women as well. Likewise, men who are bad for women are usually bad for other men. My point, on all fronts, it is the willful (for profit) distortion of the healthy national truth/fact based conversation We the People deserve, and must demand, that is, that "party line" LYING for cash and career at the expense of honest solutions based inquiry is pathogenic and its time to say that out loud. Free peoples will not live and cannot survive inside the moral vacuum of a LIE. The unhuman immensity, and oppression of the DNC/WEF/EU/CCP Davos generated LIE is why Trump won the election. In terms of a free American Republic, the Congresswoman in question and Mrs. Jankowicz exist beyond the lines of empowering moral demarcation and moral reason our founding fathers fought to include in our Constitution. Ideological utopianism at the service of the malignant narcissism of our present billionaire elite is the same "psychic infection" that almost burned the 20th century to the ground. The healthy truth/fact based reality We the People are building through subscription journalism is a one person at a time wake-up.
Thanks, Mike. Yes, this behaviour is indeed pathogenic -- I have been writing about that aspect for years. And finding the answers as to what, precisely, it is.
As I have said here in a number of posts, this is totalitarianism. Usually controlled and injected into society by Psychopaths at the top. Then it floods our mental/emotional systems, and wreaks havoc.
So disappointing college kids cannot humanize the ‘other side’ because that boy was correct. There is far more in common and the divisions are created artificially.
The problem with this glossing over of differences is that on the areas of disagreement, guns and abortion being two flash points, the divisions run so deep as to be insurmountable.
That is a circular argument. The are divisive because there are strongly held positions, which, in turn, politicians use to gain traction and increase visibility into other things.
Good on this young student. I hope he and others like him persist in his efforts and that people come to see the obvious about the dangers of over-identification.
That is the common thread here. Division. A certain force, I could say globalists, want us divided. It’s how to take down the world super power. From within. Can’t be done any other way.
You are using the 5 decade ploy of lumping all "feminists" into a hive mind of deplorables with "The decades old misandrist Marxist feminist all men are rapists ploy." That includes only a subset of feminists, but doing so substitutes for presenting an argument with evidence. Many of the so-called feminists you refer to learned from the best: manipulative, misogynistic men and women bent on destroying female advancement.
No. It was never about female advancement. That was just the smokescreen You fell for it. You believed that the tactics used by Neo-Marxists to lure in the masses were actually true and valid.
I am a female who advanced by virtue of my own efforts and skills. I refuted feminism. I could not bear it, in fact.
Does "both sides" refer to student/citizen discussion or party narrative? A lot of normal people can come to some agreement over the back fence, while political parties see “the aisle” as the border between heaven and hell.
I have no doubt he was. Do you doubt Rogan and Gabbard and Taibbi were Dems, too? The Party changed, these people didn't. The machinations of the party changed and it has become a manipulative oppressive do-nothing abusive war-mongering group that pits groups of American people against each other while enriching themselves at the public trough and ignoring the very well-being of our United States as evidenced by everything from a authoritarian lock-downs, school and work closures, to the corrupted
FDA, NIH, CDC and George Soros funded elections (latest in WI with Dem and Soros outspending everyone, including Musk) and a general decline in health and security of the country as a whole. Their latest behavior seems to say: "Let's march on to nuclear war by baiting Russia with Ukraine as our proxy." And it is finally admitted even by the woke NYT.
The DP hasn't been worth a plugged nickel since the Kennedys were assassinated, and even then we were still grappling with people like George Wallace and Orval Faubus, who were desperately trying to save the original Party that vainly tried to maintain the genteel matriarchal Old South and all the hypocritical gussied up evil that went along with it.
There was a time when the party had potential, but now it should die, and its champions driven into the wilderness like feral pigs.
You won't get an answer to this reasonable question: I struggle to recall any recent time in which users of labels such as "fascist", "nazi", "racist", "bigot", authoritarian", etc have been able to give any kind of coherent explanation for their spewings...
Reading this after listening Michael Shellenberger’s speech at the Institute of Public Affairs thinking how blessed we are to have the likes of these journalists. I can only imagine how alone I would be in my elitist community on the NH Seacoast…a deep blue area in a formerly Red state. Good luck Matt…I hope you can feel the support for you from your readers and supporters.
I seriously doubt he still isn't. I am still a Liberal, it's just the left lapped me twice running around the track to the left. I think Elon is absolutely still politically the same person he always has been, and that is a conservative Democrat. We do exist.
Aren't those different dimensions? I think of Liberal as meaning open-minded, tolerant, generous, and pro-freedom, and of Conservative as wanting to preserve and cherish one's past and culture. If one's traditional culture was freer than what is coming down on us, don't Liberal and Conservative converge to the same thing?
Why don't they? The problem is... Liberal Democrat has been bastardized. Kennedy was a Liberal for the most part. Today we associate Liberals with lunatics with Purple hair and bones through their noses. It's quite far from the truth. I was raised in a Steel worker union household. All of those things are still me. The problem is.. our political world has RUN to the left, and those of us that are still here where we've always been are basically Conservative Republicans.
This is precisely why the Party should be broken and its members driven into the political wilderness. Who does it serve but rich pricks with totalitarian politics?
Trump has led the Republican Party to a place where we working class slobs can feel like we have someone working in our interest, but for the most part politicians of either party who honestly want to serve their voters are few. The RP is also filled with rich pricks, but with modified totalitarian politics or, in the best cases, streaks of Libertarianism.
Much like a lot of the corporate master class and political opportunists, Elon never belonged to any particular party or tribe. He's in it for his own goals, including self-enrichment, trans-humanist fantasies, a family dynasty and getting to Mars.
Self enrichment? Hey Tommy, didn’t you hear. He’s the richest man on the planet. He is also volunteering his valuable time away from his companies to stop waste and fraud and help his country. Your comment is ridiculous.
Hey dumbfuck, you could have simply licked Elon's boot but you chose to make a whole meal out of it.
His companies that rely heavily on government interventions? To "volunteer" in the government in ways that prevent the government from finding waste and fraud in his own companies?
This is true, but at the same time, Tesla and SpaceX have become leaders in their respective industries for a reason. How did tesla leapfrog every single automaker in the world in EV technology? Why didn't any other aerospace company private or government subsidized develop reusable boosters? Why did spaceX have to rescue stranded astronauts and not boeing?
Oh my. Little Tommy has his panties in a twist. Like most libtards, he is unable to defend his asinine claims and resorts immediately to name calling. You should probably get back to work now, Tommy. Those toilets aren’t going to clean themselves.
Yuri has his games, doesn't he? And he craves attention. I grew tired of them long ago, and started questioning him. So of course Yuri banned me from his Substack. Being that paragon of democratic virtues that he claims to be. Ahem.
So now I use him as an example in my writing 😁. When I point out various types.
Yuri, you do not really understand this. You think you do, and it is a once-niche topic that you can build a Substack around.
But you get many of the facts wrong, or not quite right, or you omit them. You are not doing a community service. You are just running an Influencer site.
You sound.....odd. C'mon Marcia....you must have realized that Yuri is just an Influencer in it for the business. That once he had you hooked, he could tell you anything and you would swallow it. Rather like the Democrats.
A cult would be a more accurate description than a religion. Cults cut off people and attack them when they leave. Cultists can never admit the truth because that means that they are wrong...about everything. Thus they always double down.
As the saying goes, it is easier to fool a man, than to convince a man that he has been fooled.
A religion, yes, with more prescriptions and prohibitions than the catechism but with no deity before whom one is ultimately accountable beyond the cause du jour.
That judge is unlikely to render a favorable verdict on their recent antics.
Have you seen the film The Dig? I recommend it; it reminds me that the past lives forever, the present dies every second, and the future will make itself no matter our efforts to shape it beforehand.
The parallels between the hard Left and Scientology are tight. Especially in treatment of those of prominence, that leave the club.
Here’s words from Hubbard’s ‘Dianetics’ that brought a lot of unhappy people into Scientology:
“What is true is what is true for you. No one has any right to force data on you and command you to believe it or else. If it is not true for you, it isn’t true. Think your own way through things, accept what is true for you, discard the rest. There is nothing unhappier than one who tries to live in a chaos of lies.”
It’s another form of post modernism. It’s what makes arguing with a clone member in this hive impossible. Typically poorly objectively informed, always emotional, frequently condescending because they’re right and you’re clearly wrong. It’s why deflection, name calling and condemnation is their stock and trade.
Scientology also uses a classic 4 step process to capture recruits, that also parallels how youth are sucked into the cult of the Left
1. Make contact
2. Disarm any antagonism towards Scientology
3. Find the ‘ruin’. This part very critical. Find out ‘what is the problem’ on each individual’s mind. Think ‘climate change’, ‘oppression of trans or insert your victim group of choice’ for hard Left. In decades past for Scientology recruits it might be a failed romance, bad parents and other traumas specific to individual.
4. Convince recruit Scientology has the answer. Once the person is aware of the ruin, bring about an understanding that (only) Scientology can handle the condition
The Right is a victim mentality cult where they are always the victim lol. The above applies to your cult as well, but once you're in one, it's tough to identify 😂
Sure, I can see your point. However, I would suggest that those on the right are not denying certain basic truths, in the way those on the left are. The right is not confused about what is a women, for example.
That is apparent and I agree. Also, I find it useful to think of left/right political orientation on a spectrum, from batshit crazy Communists/National Socialists on the far left to every-man-is-an- island Libertarians on the Right.
Recent history shows that right-oriented politics is more rational, more humane, more open to unorthodox thinking, and more resistant to ideological capture.
I don't see how the Right views itself as victims -- other than when they actually ARE victims, of course (J6 defendants, Trump Admin figures, Trump himself).
It seems like everyone (other than straight white males) on the left is a victim, though. Women who encounter any pushback on any issue scream "Misogyny," minorities who don't get their own way scream "RACISM," trans individuals are now at the pinnacle of the victimology pyramid, and any opposition to men playing in women's sports, or invading women's spaces, is met with shrieks of "Transphobia!"
The only people on the left who don't behave like victims are straight white males, who spend an undue amount of time bowing and apologizing to everyone they meet for their straightness and their whiteness. Remember Soy boys for Harris? Pathetic.
Don't forget how it started during BLM. They would literally bow in front of black people who put their boots on a milk crate for the cucks to worship. I've never seen anything like it. Oh wait.... I did. In the capital. When Nancy put on the kente cloth and bowed, lowered her head and thought about her box of wine awaiting her return to the office.
You're onto something, BookWench! I don't know exactly what it is, but your onto something. Look, why are they arresting Russell Brand for sexual indiscretions from 20 years ago? The whole thing is so fishy! What's really going on?
I believe that many if not most "straight white males, who spend an undue amount of time bowing and apologizing to everyone they meet for their straightness and their whiteness" are angling to get laid, including the "pathetic Soy Boys for Harris."
All of the above is playing the victim! Biden did it to us and we have to do the same others. Woe unto me, I'm a white person, that is a transgender person swimming, playing etc etc. It's just another day of being the victim in your world. Took on the woke left and became more woke right. No principles, just the victim every day.
I was in a religious cult for years. You are Correct—cult members can’t see it from within. You have to get out to see it. That is the truth. I cringe now remembering what nonsense I believed. I got out of the democrat cult. I have experienced much cringing and anger. That list of how you know you are in a cult matches up with my past religion and the democrats today.
This is totalitarian...found in Cluster-B types and their relationships, in addicts, in cults, in gangs, in organized crime groups, in extremist religions of either leftwing or rightwing, in Communists, in Nazis.
It is a very patterned way of thought and behaviour. As if they all study a manual first.
Have you ever considered that totalitarianism exists soley because humanity decided that mass civilization was the best method? Totalitarianism could not easily exist in a clan or tribal (family, county, town, state, ect?) environment, right? Only in a sporatic way, more as slave owners, which cannot control the mobility of the slaves.
No, you are mis-defining totalitarianism Ollo. Most people do. They know it only as a political authoritarian regime over a whole population. That is one form, but there are many others.
Totalitarianism is a highly dysfunctional group dynamic, actually. It is a mental state. It appears in a number of very specific circumstances and groups. Even in some families.
Okay. But who cares then? People care when it becomes a systemic problem for their future, for the lives of their children. That's the time to deal with the systemic problem. Leave the philosophizing for later. The understanding of what happened is very important, but focusing on "that's just the way people are" is what got us into this mess in the first place.
I know "family totalitarianism". I was raised in a brutal "family regime". Not just in my family, but it was all around me. You want a story, here you go:
I was a 9 year old very sensitive boy. I was too aware of my environment. It was quite confusing. I did a sleep-over at a classmate's house on a Friday night. We were watching TV when their drunk dad came home. It ended with him chasing their mom around the house with a butcher's knife, cops on the scene, and telling him to go sleep it off. They left three 9 year-olds in the same house with that lunatic.
I have read through most of the memoirs and analyses of extremist religious groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, various Doomsday Cults, etc. Then of course there is the "Religion of Peace" as a rightwing extremist religion too.
They all display the etched-in-stone pattern of all totalitarians:
If someone questions or dissents to their leader(s) or group narrative, even slightly, they will
SHUN/SMEAR/PUNISH to varying degrees. Depending on the overall culture.
I wouldn’t categorize “Mormons” better known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as extremist. I would hope that in your investigation you went straight to the source instead of reading an outsider’s view. Upon further investigation you might find that we are quite “normal” and add quite a bit of value to society.
There are several good memoirs and websites written by former members of groups such as the Mormons and JWs. But current members are unlikely to read these.
Most cult members would not say their group is a cult...or they wouldn't have joined to begin with. If a person is born into such a group, it is that much more difficult to see beyond it. Or to see the gaping holes in the group narrative.
Yes, and I would say the same about Jehovah's Witnesses. My experience with them, in fact, left me very impressed with their basic honesty and sense of decency.
That doesn't preclude what I am saying. The JWs are an extremist religious group which meets the definition of totalitarianism. Which is a specific highly dysfunctional group dynamic. Their group narrative means everything to them. They will shun (from families) even young teens who dissent or disagree; the group means more than family bonds. You might read through a few of the websites for escaped JWs and see whether you still hold the same opinion.
We all want other people to agree with us and share our values, especially our nearest and dearest. That general desire is greatly inflamed when we feel, rightly or not, that the larger world is out to get us. Individuals who feel that way may react to dissenters in their own family by shunning them.
That makes for a family tragedy, but it does not prove that the whole group stands for shunning of apostates. We might feel that way about the group in general if that is our experience with multiple members of it, as many of us have been coming to conclude about Democrats in recent years. But experience may vary, and unless it is firmly written down in the very doctrine of the religion/cult/ideology/party, we cannot really say that the entire group is categorically that way.
That actually makes no sense at all. If the "truths" you have convinced yourself are true are really lies then in your gut you know that to be true and your gut will try and convince you.
You cannot ever be happy living with lies you tell yourself are true.
That is not to say you can see the truth and have an opinion on how to live with that truth that is different than your neighbors idea of how to deal with the truth.
All this circular logic makes me dizzy. I suppose that it the dem/scientologists goal though isn't it.
VN, the issue here is that a person must have a conscience to be unhappy living with lies. You are looking at this from just one point of view.
A totalitarian/Cluster-B type has no development of conscience. We are not born with it. It must be developed in childhood. Sometimes this goes wrong. Therefore they see the world almost 180 degrees differently than normal people do.
What a BS-artist that fellow was. He told them whatever they wanted to hear. And charged them for it. Which us how he maintained his status and wealth.
04/05/25: "Why Do Democrats Destroy Their Own?" "Tribal" is exactly the right word. Because it's a Mafia. A criminal outfit. A racket. WDC, On The Waterfront. And you can only leave feet-first. Right, Glenn? Right, Tulsi? Anyone heard from Seth Rich lately? "Mr Epstein, it's for you, on line one, Bill Barr."
Because I am referring to organized crime groups under Cluster-B leaders, as opposed to spontaneous crime groups which arise from less clear motivations, and often dissolve just as quickly.
The Mafia and organized human trafficking rings are totalitarian.
It's exactly why I lost friends and family even though we rarely discussed politics. They just needed to know who I voted for. Actually, who they'd assumed I voted for based on any comment I made following an impromptu interrogation concerning my posions on free speech, abortion, gender anything, diversity, or racism. Good riddance.
There are a lot of people losing family these days in the West to totalitarianism. Much like the East European Stasi and the Chinese Red Guard split families.
Or the Cluster-B parent gone berserk who weaponizes the children against the normal parent.
This is a good point that demonstrates the fundamental psychological difference between the right and left. You would still have maintained those relationships had they accepted that you appeared to have been politically right leaning. Because of this it is truly their loss. Note: not all people on the left lose family and friends this way.
You can make a strong argument that a lot of the Left’s positions, DEI, open borders-mass migration, self-identifying gender identity, are a step backwards for Western Civilization.
“Progressivism” has always defined as “change for change’s sake”, directly opposite “conservatism”.
The thing is, “conservatism” makes sense as a starting point because everything that is evolved to its current state for reasons. “Burn it down for the sake of change” is always going to do a lot more harm than good.
Moreover, the “truth is subjective” current makes it easy to simply not know any history, which means that Leftists frequently dredge up horrible, failed ideas from the past and say “I’ve never seen this before; let’s try it!”
It is not just tribalism. Many tribal groups are normal.
The Left/WOKE/Democrats are a totalitarian group. THAT is the big distinction. And being totalitarian means they will automatically behave within certain behaviour patterns and types of thinking. Often very bizarre, which normal people just cannot grasp.
They do not operate on sense or logic. Something far deeper and more sinister takes them over.
Hayek had an interesting take on those sorts. As people who already know everything and what the “solutions” are, they are naturally attracted to central planning. Unfortunately, the universe is too random to accommodate planning that way, so they are always wrong. Unable to accept being wrong, they gravitate to more and more ruthless measures to cover that fact up, which includes persecution, murder, and genocide. Totalitarianism, in other words.
I completely agree that totalitarianism is the main problem with the woke left. The word "total" captures the quality of total immersion in a cult to the point of having no separate sense of self.
I commend you on your being gracious here Sandra, even though you know I do not support feminism, and you do. I can respect someone like that.
As for totalitarianism, someone once commented that this state is possible because human beings have hackable brains. We have mental/emotional loopholes left over from evolution, which opportunistic manipulators and power-mongers will use. They seek opportune moments and vulnerabilities. Or they create them. And then given our herd-affinity, the damaged perspectives spread.
I believe that most problems with human behavior on a large scale are due to evolutionary flaws. On a general level, the fact that we are animals and so much of our feelings and behavior are guided more by our animal nature than the supposedly more advanced human cortex. And on the level of detail, random natural selection obviously leaves a lot of dysfunctional traits in a species over very long periods of time.
I am grappling just now with the ideas put forth by Anthropologist Francisco Gil-White on his Substack, concerning a shift in mental evolution in ancient Mesopotamia under leader Sargon of Akkad, and what this may have meant for humanity. Even today.
I am also convinced of a few of the ideas of Julian Jaynes, author of the 1970s book on the Bicameral Mind/Consciousness.
It's a tricky, complex puzzle, all of this. And we must live life while we are working it out.
There are loopholes left in us from evolution, which are normally not a real issue. In a relatively reasonable stable society, where we have social support and working institutions.
If masses of us come to be in a vulnerable situation though, or it is created, the vultures descend and look for the loopholes.
Vultures and opportunistic infections. The failure to defend national borders and the refusal by elites to support individuals who defend themselves are essentially the breakdown of the national and social immune system.
Well, you are literally describing MAGA. Trump's entire team and his political MO. Contradict anything Trump says and you are scum, a liar, a weak loser, should be sued or jailed or worse.
Both sides are recklessly, psychopathically tribal. What are you talking about?
Try being a three-time Trump voter at a town hall, voicing your concerns at how you and thousands of your fellow veterans were unlawfully fired from the job you've done well for years.
Try being anyone protesting campaign promises not being met: prices down on day one, ending Ukranian war day one, no more wars...except perhaps a little excusable WWIII kickoff with Iran pending...and threatening invasions of key allies Canada and Denmark, and perpetuating, hell, celebrating, the killing of 100 children a day in Gaza (because those aren't human children after all).
Forget that, don't waste your time even mentioning it. It's all 100% astroturf. George Soros is the only explanation for any dissent about the right. Literally nobody on earth disagrees with Trump unless they are paid to do so or "retarded" as free speech now supposedly dictates we can say.
And don't you dare to mention the fact that Trump is a convicted rapist (convicted by a group of his own peers for putting his fingers inside a woman when she didn't want his disgusting hands inside her). Don't exercise your free speech to remind people of something so irrelevant. You'll get yourself sued for $15 million.
And don't you even think about saying Trump's lame and completely debunked stolen election claims are a "big lie." Big mistake. That's $475 million dollars worth of trouble for your free speech. Do not bother.
Don't do what every network does every single day by editing down a long-form video segment of a politician doing word salad. Don't even worry if it didn't change the content of the speech a bit. Don't do it! That's $10 Billion with of pain.
I'll stop there because this is just some pointless comment in a pointless thread. But the proof that "free speech is back, baby" goes on and on and on.
What you should do, though, is needlepoint your way into demonstrations of the left crushing free speech while - and this the key part - claiming that ONLY the left does this.
Such things as the "ideological exclusion provision" mentioned by Matt in this piece, where, in the wake of the admittedly horrific Patriot Act (Republican legislation), a few professors were not being allowed into the country in 2006 - a blood-curdling curtailing of free speech because Americans were "prevented from engaging in face-to-face dialogue and debate" with said professors. In other words, "suspected terrorists" were not being allowed to cross the border INTO AMERICA while the country was fighting Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, "suspected terrorists" in 2025 are being deported to torture holes without due process - and not being returned even when their innocence is a matter of certainty. Instead, these innocents get defamed and slandered after the fact by the Press Secretary as still being dangerous gang leaders on globally watched TV, while the admin's own legal defence admits otherwise in court.
Nothing to see here. That's not defamation at all. Insult to injury to insanity.
Only the left is capable of being tribal, it's a good point you bring up. Makes you think.
A convicted rapist must be criminally charged, and found guilty. Trump was never criminally charged, let alone convicted.
A civil suit, made possible by a NY law drafted just for Trump, allowed a civil suit to brought 30 years after a supposed, public attack, that was never before mentioned. Unbelievably, the allegations lacked a day, month or, even a year, certain. The suit also lacked any physical evidence, any eye witness testimony or any corresponding medical or therapy records. In the midst of an AIDS epidemic, the "victim " never bothered with an HIV test. No witness ever put Trump and the "victim" together, anywhere on the planet, let alone the department store venue , alleged, despite Trump being one of the most recognized faces on earth.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Trump, but any man cheering the travesty of the rape civil suit, should realize the precedent sent, when a woman can claim rape 30 years after the fact, without a single piece of corresponding evidence, save a supposed conversation with a girl friend.
I'm open to the nuances behind any of that. I really don't have the time to properly re-litigate it today but here is what I've managed to find verified from multiple sources as best I can:
Re: The Adult Survivors Act being "made possible by a NY law drafted just for Trump." This was a one-year window, modelled after the earlier Child Victims Act. It was designed so adult survivors of sexual offences could file civil lawsuits against their alleged abusers regardless of when the incidents happened. In that window 3,000 other lawsuits were filed under the act, lots of them by high profile people and institutions. So, I guess it's theoretically possible that this was all done just to "get Trump", and those thousands of cases were just collateral byproduct of the conspiracy, but I personally feel that's a stretch.
You're right it was civil, not criminal. I shouldn't have said "convicted" because he was only "found liable." Totally fair.
Caroll's evidence did rely mostly on corroboration from friends - and other women who claimed to have had abusive experiences with Trump. So, yeah, it's not the tightest set of claims, admittedly. But also, a bunch of people on a jury did find him guilty (liable) and that jury was selected in part by Trump's defence team. I mean, I don't make the rules, and a bunch of people didn't think he was innocent. So there's that.
One thing you didn't mention, for colour, is that Trump always maintained he had never met Carol, yet was shown a photo of them together in his deposition, when he said it was his ex, Marla Maples. So I guess the photo disproves he didn't know her?
Anyway, I'm actually someone who believes quite strongly in innocence until proven guilty. Without that, we're basically fucked. I found a good amount of what happened during #metoo pushed against, if not violated that principle. So it's not like I even disagree with you.
The he-said / she-said aspect of crime will only be resolved imo if we achieve TOTAL SURVEILLANCE...a project well underway by our techno-lords...and actually something I'd very cautiously consider just to solve the "evidence hole" problem, at least philosophically (but like, not really haha).
So yeah, okay. That example isn't perfect. I'm willing to meet you in the middle on that for sure. Still, I would encourage you to go and examine the many ways the right, like the left, is doing its own tribal warfare. It's not like they're hiding it...like, at all. And it's maddening when both sides do it, to me, because we have a lot of work to do as a fucking species and this is just hampering us all, as we toss a bloody napkin over the fucking doomsday clock.
Lastly, and not to harangue your Saturday, my main ongoing beef is that Taibi, to my eye anyway, is cherrypicking with bad faith in plain sight nowadays. Whereas he used to work hard to hold both sides' feet to the fire. I really fucking miss that.
With the dubiousness showering down on all of us from all angles 24-7, we need that.
The woman could not remember the year. That should have ended all prosecution. She never claimed to be drunk or incapacitated. There is no way to defend yourself against an accusation that lacks a year, let alone a month and day.
My husband spent nearly 20 years, all over the world, for business. What happens when a woman surfaces that says he raped her, in Singapore in the mid 90s. She cannot remember the day, month or year, but she knows the hotel had an opulent lobby, they had a seafood dinner, and then he raped her, in his hotel room? No corresponding eye witness testimony, no physical evidence or corresponding medical or therapy records. How does one defend against such a claim?
Statute of limitations exist because memory fades. Evidence disappears, and the ability to refute an allegation, becomes harder each day from an alleged attack. The alleged victim was not a child or emotionally challenged , she waited 30 years, without a day , month or year of the attack? That alone, should have been case closed.
Like I said, cases like this are problematic. It's a dangerous slope of precedent, so I'm with you on being cautious here.
For the record, Carroll didn't say it happened in a random stretch of years or in a place she couldn't recollect, like in your Singapore hypothetical. She said it happened in Spring '96 in a Bergdorf dressing room. The evidence is sparse as you said, there's no need to exaggerate your point.
However, this is what the jury is supposed to be for. They saw the facts of the case we got to see. Looks like the jury took Donald's own advice to heart: "play the man, not the ball."
Tip: if you don't want to be so vulnerable to a group of your peers finding you guilty on such scant evidence, maybe don't create a creepy aura of menace around yourself for most of your life.
For starters, maybe don't be close friends with Jeffery Epstein or wish Ghislaine Maxwell well as she's on trial for child trafficking. Don't go on Howard Stern and repeatedly call your own daughter a "piece of ass" or say celebrities like him can "grab women by the pussy", or barge into Miss Teen pageants unannounced "because I'm the owner."
Here are the quotes from the Stern show about the pageants:
"I’ll go backstage before a show, and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else...you know, no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And therefore I’m inspecting it…is everyone OK? You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible-looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that."
We're talking about ogling nude teens here. Maybe some people (jurists) find something off and repugnant about that.
Don't get me wrong You are free to say all 26 women who brought forward sexual misconduct allegations are liars. You are also free to zero out Ivanka's own claim that Trump raped her because she did later retract it. But I'm gonna venture a guess: this all adds up to a shit person, an abuser of women. And I'm free to think it. There is evidence of it.
You're a woman, right? I'm genuinely curious how all of that strikes you.
Also, this whole Jean Carroll thing was just a fragment of a larger argument I was making. That Trump will sue anybody on inane technicalities (like the others I mentioned), which has a chilling effect on free speech - something we all know is Taibi's third rail, which I do champion him for having gone after so ardently over the years.
But lately Matt is too pissed at the Dems and "the left" to caution against most of this blatant anti-free speech activity coming from Trump's side. He's out there digging into the Garcia case, I believe, so maybe that topic will be an exception.
I already mentioned this but it was ignored, so I'll say it again. Kilmar Garcia was deported without cause or due process to a terrorist confinement centre. When the admin realized its mistake, and in court their JD attorney expressly stated there was no evidence of gang affiliation, Karoline Leavitt, Tump's mouthpiece, still went on TV saying he was a member of MS-13. This is a clear and ugly case of defamation.
Last one: Trump's executive orders targeting law firms for having engaged in litigation "perceived as adversarial to the administration." These are wild attacks on free speech. It intimidates the law profession from open advocacy itself. Extracting tens of millions in pro bono services in the process, in fear of reprisal, is a very dangerous precedent to set.
It's the opposite of a free speech agenda. And what America is in principle - that's why it's the first amendment. It's what Taibi claims to stand for, seemingly above all else. But he's too busy nitpicking about the Dems and "the left" while we have a very active and present danger posed to our rights going on right in front of us with this presidency.
Just call out the shit on both sides, for fuck's sake. It's not a complicated journalistic standard. We need strong writers and researchers with integrity, not partisan hacks. Come back Matt.
Not a Trump fan but I'm pretty sure the EJC "rape" never took place. In addition to what you stated, Democrat doner billionaire Reid Hoffman funded her lawsuit. Trump was 49 years old at the time and EJC was 52. I'm pretty sure he never had anything to do with a woman older than he is, especially one in her 50s.
Exactly right. Matt T. is talking about an active faction of Dems being tribal. MAGA is the mirror opposite. I have to argue with too many on my own "side" these days.
Not all Dems are this tribal. But those non crazies are currently a ‘silent majority’ inside D party and looking for an escape hatch. The escape so far has to been to join Trump, who I view as a Populist, and not Republican. As a lifelong Republican, I no longer identify w/ GOP. But I do identify with wanting to Make America Great Again, and have voted Trump 3x. Some things he does I don’t agree with (1st Amendment due process stuff bothers me especially for not protecting those who speech I don’t like) but overall the alternative frightens me (much) more.
Help me understand your definition of populist. How is it populist to:
- Push a budget giving 4.5 - 6 trillion dollars to the wealthiest and corporations in tax cuts, while cutting Medicaid by $2 trillion, SNAP, firing 80,000 from Veteran's Affairs, stacking the NLRB against labour, etc.
- Claim you'll pay for the cuts with tariffs, which is a tax on US importers falling largely on we the consumers in the form of higher prices?
- Create a shit coin on the eve of inauguration, siphoning over $2 billion from 800,000 wallets of your own working class supporters who bought into the con? (and get untraceable crypto bribes from anyone anywhere for anything while holding office to boot)
That's for starters. But let me tell you what scares me, then you can tell me what I'm getting wrong. Let's just use the tariffs as an example.
Pretty much any credible analyst on both the left and the right have now analyzed the tariff math and the verdict is in: the Trump admin just made up the numbers. They calculated the by-country tariffs falsely, with no real reflection of trade-balance reality. Here is a hard neo-con analysis I thought was pretty spot in if you're interested in a "non lib" take:
When he tells you why America needs Liberation Day, he very confidently points to a chart his team made with a bunch of fake numbers to explain why. They didn't even have the entry level professionalism not to include uninhabited islands from their list of places who were "ripping them off."
I don't want to bore you with the economics, but it comes down to the US having the world reserve currency. It means you can't have a trade surplus, pretty much by default, based on how money works. Here is a core part of the concept called the Triffin Dilemma, if you care:
So the guy is single-handedly overturning the global economy with an openly misleading and patently false reasoning system behind it. He just gets up there and divides the surplus by the deficit, then divides by two (you know, because he's a super nice and fair guy). If this doesn't bother you or make you doubt the soundness of what he's up to, I don't know what to tell you.
He claims it will bring back manufacturing to make America Great again. But that's assuming all the nations on Earth he has now soured relations with will not fight back, be turned off by the instability he brings, and form other healthier coalitions to escape and punish the U.S insanity.
Meanwhile, Trump and co are endlessly raging about the dangers of a rising China superpower. Yet this is exactly the kind of alienating move that will push rival nations (that is, all nations in Trump's eyes, apparently) into the arms of China who has so much to offer the world economy right now.
Nobody knows how this will go. But by any measure it's a giant gamble with steep odds according to most experts outside of Trump's inner circle. And guess who will pay the most if it goes sideways? Trump's words himself explain it best when he said yesterday as the market losses hit $10 trillion: "it's a good time to get rich."
That is, it's a good time for the rich to buy up even more of the economy. Even his failure is a win, a deal from Donald to the rich, the only people he cares about. And maybe, if we're lucky, we less than rich suckers and losers and assholes will all get jobs repairing automation robots in a few years (that was Commerce Secretary Lutnick who actually said that).
This is as Trump flies away from his Great Recession game to play golf with the Saudis the very same day to rake in more millions from his side businesses (spending more millions of tax dollars to bring the secret service along with him on his business vacation).
From where I'm sitting it couldn't be more plain. This guy is openly conning you and you still believe he cares about you. To me that's what's scary.
I’ll start by stating I’ve lost ‘on paper’ excess of $150K in last 2 days of stock market. That said, I put a bunch more in cash in mid Feb (following Buffet’s lead) so now just need to jump back in when knife is no longer falling. It’s a good time for everyone to buy equities again, once the VIX level (volatility measure) stabilizes and hedge funds reinvest. This is an opportunity for rich, middle class, poor, young or old.
I believe DJT’s overall economic plan is to remake Bretton Woods 1944 when it comes to international trade. And I support it because it will eventually help the working poor and middle class (more domestic jobs) and our youth (as well as generations not yet born). This is what makes him, IMO, a Populist. I also don’t think the tariff’s will remain higher than 10% for most countries w/ the exception of China. The market has overreacted. You are going to see deals (starting w/ Vietnam and India) prior to 4/9 implement date. Then more negotiations after that. The reciprocal levels US will impose 4/9 won’t stay at those levels long term (except for China).
We have a big debt challenge now. That if not addressed will see our standard of living start to decline. Think of how the UK has become a low trust society. That awaits us if we don’t address our debt. We kicked the can down the road for 40+ years. Now DJT isn’t kicking it anymore and there is a general freak out, resulting. Serving the debt is now a higher annual expenditure than Defense spending. That is a fact that doesn’t bode well for our global preeminence if we don’t address it. If China/Japan/Luxembourg (top 3 foreign debt buyers) stop buying our debt, say goodbye to current SS and Medicare levels. That’s a risk we can’t allow to go on, unaddressed. Tariffs are a part of addressing the debt. DOGE is another, and I’m anxious for this Team to uncover waste in Defense & Entitlements. Economic growth also needed and these actions will encourage.
The days of USA subsidizing the world are coming to a close. As rest of the world’s standard of living rises to our levels, there is no reason to have unfair/unbalanced trade to gaps levels seen in past. It needs to be more even, so we can keep our debt under control.
You asked why the Trump fakery w/ framing up other countries tariffs. This is just negotiation tactic of showing opponent high # at start, so that what you eventually get in return is good/acceptable. I’ve negotiated international business for 25+ years and this is pretty normal practice. You want your opponent to use time/energy to go after the inflated assertions so less time/energy to go after the substance.
What hasn’t happened yet, but is on the come are tax breaks. Especially for low/middle class. Meaning there’s going to be none or lower tax rates on tips, overtime AND Social Security. Can you believe the government taxes SS? This is all for Main Street first, and only Wall Street a distant 2nd.
You are free to spend emotional currency on Trump’s Bitcoin, him golfing or his spending tax dollars unnecessarily on secret service. That’s small potatoes that has no impact on the big picture.
I don’t believe Trump is trying to dismantle SS or Medicare/Medicaid. Removing tax on Social Security isn’t to destroy it, it’s to keep more $ in pockets of retired Americans. A very Populist action. I believe he’s trying to take structural steps to save the solvency of these programs.
There is plenty of pushback on the right, against Trump's dumb policies.
I, and many other Trump voters, have loudly objected to his veneration of Israel, his bombing of Yemen, his stupid attacks on free speech that might offend "Our Greatest Ally in the Middle East," and his curious (globalist) designs on Canada & Greenland.
Madison, I’ve seen several articles w/ photos of the anti-Trump ‘Hand’s Off’ protests today. They occurred across the country. I noticed very few minorities at these rallies. But overwhelmingly large amounts of white middle aged and older adults. Why do you think that is the case? Where are the black and latino citizens? Nowhere near a representation of our countries demographics.
I noticed that too. In San Diego I was seeing large amounts of white middle aged and older adults. I'm not sure what they were hoping to accomplish. For my part, I think its time to tune out all the Trump-haters. We had an election. Trump got the nod. Many people are very worried. Many people are hopeful. Either side might be right. But, Trump won his turn at bat. Now we just have to wait and see what happens. All those white middle aged and older adults who were carrying signs about supporting Democracy. Well, this is Democracy, baby! It's like I heard President Trump say in an interview one time: "sometimes, you just have to let things run their course." These middle-class oldsters can march around with their "Dump Trump" signs till the cows come home, as far as I am concerned. That train left the station on November 6, 2024. Now the action is elsewhere, and we all just need to wait and see what happens.
The concept of the modern nation-state, as we understand it today, is often associated with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which established a system of sovereign states after the Thirty Years' War. For one thing it established geographical borders that were acknowledged by the various fighting factions as an example. It’s viewed as a step forward for civilization. By no means is the nation state perfect. Far from it. But it’s a whole lot better than what came before it. Lands and affiliations based on tribe, skin color, religion, etc. Simpler but far less rational. Easier but far less reasoned than the concept of nation-states. Most conservatives hold to the idea that nation-states are still the best idea around and in particular have a strong preference for the idea of the United States as a nation state and try to ascribe to things like reason and logic not emotion not virtue signaling. I don’t see these attributes so much from the Left. Huge mistakes are made but generally speaking conservatives believe a country should have borders, people should have equal opportunity under the laws based on merit and not any other factors especially something as superficial as skin color. There are only two genders assigned at birth all other designations are variations of one or the other gender. Women should compete against women. And so on. The nation state is the antithesis of the tribal state. I dont want to see the country become part of some Global New World Order some one world great big tribe that’s based on open borders, critical race theory, transgenderism., yielding or surrender of sovereign nation right to world organizations like the WHO or the UN or the WEF. You become part of that and the only ideas and innovations that are allowed to see the light of day are the ideas and solutions the world leadership approves of. That’s no good. Everything else gets suppressed. It stifles creativity, fresh ideas, counter ideas, unorthodox solutions to big problems that might work. No way to run a world. What kind of government do want here anyway?
The left has been taken over by the mean girls and their effeminate male brethren. Mean girls never play nice or fair. It’s just how they roll. Gradually all of the rest of us are waking up to their vacuity and are walking away. This just makes them madder, more mean, and more stupid.
I agree, but I view the left as religious. While many profess atheism, they have made their ideology God, and those who point out flaws and issues are heretics and apostates. Now, I've known people farther right to operate similarly, but it is rare among those I know who are conservative. I had a brief moment when I wrote about illegal immigration this fall where my friends--mostly leftists--attacked me for even researching the problem. By that time, I had already recognized that questioning gender theory or other doctrine will get you labeled a heretic. If you do not say the words, and do the correct things, you will be cast out from society, and woe be upon you.
Exactly. Most members of the left don’t profess or practice any religion, but into the religion-hole, they have inserted ideology, with all of religion's imperatives.
That’s why if you disagree on a point of policy, you're not just mistaken— you’re EVIL, and must be shunned. Even to research a problem—just to entertain curiosity about the contours of an issue—is akin to the deepest heresy.
The Democrats are not "Left." The purpose of the Democratic Party is to suck in and suffocate any political breakout that challenges the rule of plutocracy. Even Bernie Sanders, weak tea compared to Jeremy Corbin in the UK, had to be destroyed. This was the prime mission, more important than defeating Trump.
For decades now I've rolled my eyes when anyone calls Democrats "the left". Their sole reason for existing is to dilute anything "left" that gets anywhere near even a little bit of power. You're right to point out Bernie as an illustration of this, see also "the Squad" who can be counted on for any type of this dumb shit that Matt is talking about in this article. Bobby Kennedy I'd argue came from the left, or at least a kind of left-leaning populism, with his environmentalism and suspicion of Big Pharma. They got rid of him. Ralph Nader worked with the Democrats for years until he couldn't anymore. These guys aren't even socialists yet they were too extreme. Anything coming from the left, the Democrats either Borg into assimilation or exile.
This is the nature of religious (or in this case pseudoreligious) cults. No questioning of holy dogma permitted, and heretics — especially apostates — must be excommunicated and shunned.
I agree 100% and would only add that in addition to tribal; they act as brainwashed members of a cult. How else could rational adults believe that to become a woman, all a man has to do is put on a dress and claim it to be so?
Maybe we're both right. On the surface, they certainly appear absolutely convinced, and so it must seem to them. But at some level deep down, I think they have profound doubts. I'm always amazed how many people I talk to in Southern California absolutely will not look at a Tucker Carlson episode. Why is that, I wonder? What are they afraid of?
Reminded me of the look of horror on an intelligent friend's face when I said that I read National Review. He was truly shocked. Refused to consider my statement that the NYT had blurred the line between reporting and opinion. worse? He was a journalism professor at a major university.
Find a YouTube video of Dr Michael Nehls or read his book, The Indoctrinated Brain. He's been interviewed by Jan Jekielek of The Epoch Times, Dr Drew and Tucker Carlson and others. His is THE explanation for mass psychosis. BUT if you aren't curious and you don't possess mental resilience you won't check it out and that's the giveaway that should terrify you. That tells you that you're in the cult's pocket. Your brain has been indoctrinated physiologically. Help yourself! Just watch.
when I was a child, though I was curious about a beautiful Protestant church in my neighborhood and I passed it, looked at it through the gates, hundreds of times, I never ventured onto the property. At the time, I didn't identify my avoidance as irrational fear of some nameless consequence; it just seemed natural. Just the ways things were. To enter this beautiful and mysterious building and satisfy my curiousity would be tantamount to a betrayal of my own group (Catholic). It was unthinkable. The point is that I wasn't thinking; I was feeling: fear. Fear of the figurative loss of my group membership. The boundary was firmly set not only by the leaders of my group but also by the society at large. It was still a time of strongly dualist thinking in religion; each one of us thought we were on the Good side. In recent times, dualist thinking has emerged once again, triggered by identity politics that manipulate the base emotions undergirding dualist thinking; to remain safe among your group you must give complete allegiance. To even venture near the Other group would be to betray your own and threaten your membership in it. There is no place for you in the Other group that harbors the same dualist thinking. When simply avoiding the Other group isn't enough to secure your own group membership, you will have to vanquish the Other. The depth of how we have all been manipulated to this base level of thought and behavior is stunning in an age of "well educated elites".
Hi Ken, just so you know you’re not alone there are some of us in SoCal who are subscribers to Tucker Carlson and enjoy his interviews. I also appreciate that Sasha Stone posts them on her Substack so I never miss him. So much to read with Taibbi, Shellenberger, Greenwald, Stone, AMD, Malone! I’m lucky that most of my friends read the above journalists with a little WSJ thrown in kand having lived in NYC I gotta get my fix of the NY Post.
Btw, did you read his beautiful obituary of his father who rip 3/24/25?
I wasn't able to find him or her. Maybe I searched incorrectly. When I entered AMD as the search term, it contained a lot of different names containing those letters. Do you have a link? Thank you!
Yes, I suspect the same. When you actually listen to that hearing and the specific examples held up on the Democrat side of the aisle as either protected or crossing the line, they were classic examples from law school textbooks. They pretended they were not advocating for censorship except for Chinese or Russian propaganda. Interestingly I never heard any specifics about exactly what the Chinese were pushing. Might be enlightening.
The "leadership" (i.e. those in control) differ from the rank-and-file. One may be admitted at some point from the public-info ranks to the secret-info controllers, but the point is the persistence of the dual-class system, with completely differing ethics.
I'm not sure the ethics really differ, rather than that ethics no longer enter into it. It's now all about identity. Reminds me of rabid football fans.
It seems that there's this wierd human behavior to engage in ruinous self-fulfilling prophecies. Maybe it's the fact that people can say "I told you so" (everybody likes doing that) if the prophecy comes true, and if it doesn't, they can blame the detractors.
Agreed. But I’m sure you would agree that were it not for the full support of the heavily biased liberal MSM that that house of cards would have collapsed long ago. Oh the irony, the hypocrisy, the lies they get away with. The party of inclusion, diversity, equity, who ran their entire Harris campaign based on her opponent lies and is a threat to democracy, with the implied message of course that the Dems were the party of truth tellers, and so many Americans bought it, still do, but would not, if the news media did an honest job.
The leading actors of the cult do not allow questions about the cult and should the followers , anyone or ones who tries to think for themselves are cast out if not destroyed on the spot.
No, that's not the way a totalitarian group works. They do not think or live in the reality that normal people live within. Their behaviour and tactics are from another dimension.
I wonder. It might be a subconscious fear they are wrong. Definitely know a few examples who consciously sequester themselves away from people who think differently. They acknowledge this. I am thinking of a college "professor" when I say this last example. It seems an emotional issue in that case.
One can make sense of this situation by use of Hanson’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
She misunderstood the purpose of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. She thought their purpose was to investigate literal “foreign affairs”. Being as dumb as the average sedimentary rock, she just misunderstood her committee assignment.
And yes, for readers from Portland, I’m joking. She really is a malicious jackass AND has a profound stupidity problem.
they cannot abide anyone fleeing the funny farm for fear of a stampede, therefore examples must be made.....though they are crazy and bad at doing this. IC was trying to do it for them, but thats failed too.
Here is the difference: Republicans do not stick together for votes, etc. They are critical thinkers but it costs them; Democrats demonize everyone who doesn't buy the whole schtick. It's a religion for them and they do not care what they have to destroy to get their way. And they are about power and will discard any narrative or policy to oppose Trump. They are by any means necessary people. Republicans have actual lives they live.
Sounds rather like the Borg to me . . . what's really hilarious is that the "resistance" doesn't realize the real resistance has taken the reins, at least for a few years. Go Donnie, go Elon! Smash as much as you can while you can. We need you to do this.
I’m also curious to know. Trump has created a very big tent party when many competing policies. All the time you read of policies where even some of his cabinet members disagree. I see many prominent republicans disagreeing vehemently with his tariff stance both in the media and in government right now. I remember when Biden’s acuity was so obviously failing, only one democrat even told the truth, he is now out the party. Where were the other prominent democrats calling him out for it? I didn’t see any all of them were singing from the same hymn book.
The Democrats are a monolith joined in their hatred of Trump and free speech that contradicts their liturgy. The Republicans are a smorgasbord, including a bunch of Dems who had enough of the bs. You'll see lots of infighting with Republicans. The Dems all goosestep to the same beat. Look at CA. They've ruined the state. it's an overregulated hellhole focused on virtue signaling instead of good governance. the new mayor of sf is making the first signs of progress, but LA is hobbled with embarrassing levels of corruption and utter stupidity at Spring Street.
Right. Now. They were a cult in the early 2000s, but many of those acolytes are now democrats. Some are still republicans, though. Mitch M is a good example.
Maybe election losses explain it? I was a Dem my whole life until lately; the party is not recognizable.
Are we sure it wasn’t election WINS that changed the party? From the party of “the working (man)” to the party of Social Justice. ‘Looking at you, IL State Sen. Obama.
Oh, about these college protests. I just do not see foreign visa holders the same as US citizens. I don't see how they come over here and physically intimidate Jewish students, use language like "from river to the sea," support Hamas and be all together disruptive. If they had been truly peaceful, I'd be more tolerant. I try to imagine myself going to a foreign country to study, then being the spokesperson for a group that was holding the university hostage. We have an application process, and they omit their intentions on them or they wouldn't be allowed in. Would any other country purposely admit students who planned to be activists against their own people or positions? I don't think so. Now the American citizens doing this (and the university professors are big on teaching post-colonialism, CRT, oppressor/oppressed narratives where they nearly imply violence is acceptable if you are oppressed-I was part of a university faculty, so I know what they are up to), I suppose we have to be more tolerant as long as they are not breaking laws/rules or intimidating our students so they can't go to school and study. But this is more complicated than simple free speech within our own country. I would never behave that way in a foreign country of any kind.
This is the irony...why don't they protest in their own country? Do they not have the rights to do so? That is what they should be protesting. Perhaps all these college kids should be protesting the fact that their colleges are sitting on big, fat endowments but continue to raise tuition for low value degrees.
Probably... (a) the US is where they happen to be at the moment, and (b) their country isn't arming and funding Israel, or not to anywhere near the same extent.
(a) they are guests in this country- granted a privilege, not a right to be here, and (b) it's not "THEIR country...arming and funding Israel..." It's OUR (American's) country. So, if they don't like what OUR country is doing, they should get on a plane and vamoose. I don't head up to Canada to protest the actions of their government that I don't like.
This is the US, where we have in writing that everyone has the same innate rights, including visitors, tourists, students, green card workers, with due process, habeas corpus, and the right to representation. The Bill of Rights is a constraint on government power over people, and a recognition that all people are created equal. Lose those rights for the enemy d’jour, and it will be you snatched off the streets and disappeared for a tweet next. There are laws against behavior, not ideas or writings, and courts where they are decided in public. It’s our job to protect these hard won rights or they evaporate for everyone.
I can't recall anyone standing up for the rights of the J6ers. They were attacked by DC Police & lied about. Everyone seemed fine with taking their rights.
The idea seems to be to extend the umbrella of free speech protection over almost any physical activity, as long as one shouts obnoxious slogans while doing it. Because what else can you do when your free speech is not persuasive enough to get you what you want?
A "Barnard Community Message" was sent to all students via email at 2:19 p.m., stating that "Due to a disruption in the Milstein Library and obstruction to the entrance, the Milstein Library is closed until further notice." Students received an additional email from Gary Maroni, the Director of Community Safety & Emergency Response, asking students to "avoid the Milstein Center."
You're wrong. Foreigners here by the government's largesse to be educated or to work are not free to engage in protests against America and its policies. And that largesse can be immediately withdrawn and them expelled. You sound very naive. They are NOT Americans. The rights in the Constitution are for Americans. Grow up!
Depending on their legal status. Aliens do not have the same rights as citizens and can be expelled by the government on the basis of the govt's "right to self-preservation" (Turner v. Williams).
Incorrect. I repeat, the Bill of Rights protects EVERY PERSON on US soil, regardless of legal/citizenship status. Look it up. Also, the "right to self-preservation" does not apply in the cases of these university students.
No, it is NOT exactly the same! If you lie or omit on your application your visa can be REVOKED, which is what happened here. So that is not true. WHY do we have to put up with students lying on an application, intimidating our students, and holding our universities hostage? We do not. We have to be more tolerant with our own citizens since guess what, they can't be deported. But they CAN be prosecuted if they break rules and laws. So that's just not true. Now I share the concern about free speech, but this has been over the line.
I would like to see some college protests against Palestinians at the same level, some conservative protests at the same level . I’m willing to wager a bet, they would be treated differently. Because when the left confronts the right, they hit, throw things, destroy their set ups..and the police and schools sit idly by.
Also, Matt said that he doesn't like the idea of a foreign student coming here and not being able to raise his hand and debate in class. I don't either! But that is not taking over a library and threatening and even attacking Jewish students. I think if that's all they did and just quietly protested without doing that stuff, they would have been fine.
These “threatened” students have been forever infantalized by demanding safe spaces, whining that their feelings are facts, and that they are somehow supreme beings. If a student has their precious feels hurt by another student protesting that the university funds genocide they can go back to their dorm. No one would ever know what religion they practice without their toddler style shrieking. We have all seen the same vicious brutality and inhumanity live-streamed for over a year while the whole world watches in horror. Time to stop.
Which group do you refer to? LOL This should apply to ALL the students. Nobody has the right to take over libraries and break university rules. And who is committing genocide over there? Both of them, it appears to me. It's war and Hamas killed and raped civilians. And took Americans hostage. Garbage has gone on forever ad nauseum. We do not need this stuff going on on our campuses. Sit on the curb, debate in class. Watch your language. Advocate for peace not supporting Hamas. Do not obstruct doorways, take over libraries, or attack anyone. We sure as hell do n ot have to put up with that from noncitizens. At any rate, they can protest peacefully without advocating for violence, attacking Jewish students, and/or taking over libraries, camping out on lawns. Get real.
Not how protests work. We’ve been protesting American foreign policy loudly for my entire life. It’s only when Israel First Lobby bought all our politicians that it’s now being termed illegal.
And, you’ve got it entirely backwards, genocide as defined by law is what is happening to Palestinians now and since before most of us were born. It is a war crime to deprive a people of food, water, and medicine. They have the recognized right as an occupied nation to fight back at those so inhuman and monstrous as to employ cowardly snipers to murder children and encourage soldiers to rape prisoners or war.
(P.S. “Hamas rapes” have been documented as false.)
Documented by whom? They've been "documented" as real, too. Please. And what they did was genocide, period. And also those reports of food, water and medicine, have been reported false, too. As well as Hamas admitting not nearly as many civilians have been killed. Also reported. So why you believe one set of "reports" is absurd. I don't believe you can take a side in this idiocy and have any idea of the truth. And protests are illegal if they break campus or city rules. It's that simple. People have always gotten arrested for blocking streets or other types of disruptions. Maybe you weren't at the protests because people get arrested at them if they are disruptive or breaking laws. Or destroying property. That's how they work.
Pointing out that Israel is running over live civilians with tanks is intimidating Jewish students? I guess is some existential threat sense, by countering the idea that no Jew is safe unless they are allowed unfettered to take over a region, annihilate the native population and install an apartheid government.
This is correct, Mike. I think of it as the Obama cult. He was not really a political leader, but a cult leader instead. Every evil that you see in society today can be laid at the feet of the totalitarian progressivism that he ushered in. He made his followers feel like they were special, the chosen ones. And he and Michele demonized everybody else. You couldn’t just oppose his policies, if you opposed him at all, you were a racist. And then a bigot and then a homophobe and then a transphobe. See how easy it is? I know that many independents and moderate Democrats have seen the light, but the progressives never will. They are drowning in the Kool-Aid.
You are using the Right’s redefinition of progressive. Progressives are pro-democracy , anti-corporate, and anti-war, the exact opposite of what Obama and the Democratic Party stand for.
Government assistance is not designed to boost poor people so that they will no longer need government assistance. Jobs programs provide jobs for only the program administrators. Go to the housing projects and give 'em a basketball court.
Everything the Dems do is designed to get them votes from people who been reduced to perpetual poverty and dependence.
And when anyone becomes an obstacle to the Dem self-licking ice cream, that person must be destroyed.
Read Daniel Patrick Moynihan's essay on how the welfare programs designed by Democrats assured the breakdown of the Black family and perpetual poverty and government dependency, Moynihan was vilified as a racist then, but time has borne out his analysis and prophecy. That so many Blacks have left the Democrat party is testimony to their awakening to this deal with the devil.
Looking forward to hearing about this on ATW. Holding your composure the way you did Matt…. That was very admirable of you, I hope when she tries to settle in 3 months, that you ride it out until the end. The closed door settlements do nothing to prevent these creatures from repeating this cycle of bullshit.
This is simply another example of the left demonstrating that they are repulsive 🤮 people. The positions they take on issues such as open borders, DEI, boys playing girls’ sports and transgender surgeries for minors are viewed as repulsive by normal people. The remaining normals in the Democratic Party are slowly leaving the party, causing the remaining group to be even more radical. It will be a slow death, but the Democratic Party is, indeed, dying. RIP 🪦
Repelled, repulsive… want to trade an adjective for a verb? I’d figured any within the ‘range of normal’ already departed. It’s refreshing to encounter an optimist. ‘
It is a valid point for further consideration: as the “range of normal’ people leave, the remainder accentuate the degree of radicalization. Lacking any counterbalance, the result is an unbounded synergistic effect on the radical faction.
Some writers forecast a period of 20 years for recovery to occur. Others say they go the way of the Whigs. I’m for the latter.
I haven't seen any of those "Hate has no Place Here" lawn signs since the election. The Biden folks must have used some of that $2billion at Citi to collect them. Since they lost, Hate has been not only welcome to stay but encouraged to do so and multiply.
I forever wrote off the Democratic Party when I watched them deliberately try to destroy the lives and reputations of the women whom Bill Clinton had sexually abused. Not only did the Democrats do that, but Democrat voters accepted the attacks on those women without making a comment. Much in the same way the Democrats never said a bad world about Teddy Kennedy killing that woman at Chappaquiddick.
Women's groups, if they are Dem affiliated, are still silent about the blatant and illegal abuses of women's rights via Title 9. latest example at University of Maryland fencing match. None so blind as those who WILL not see.
Add to the list of Smeareds, Justice Kavanaugh who was subjected to what amounted to a kangaroo trial at his SC confirmation hearing. Front and center among his tormentors were Harris and Korbuchar. I often wonder if K's accuser ever reflects on how she was manipulated by the Dems, how she contributed to one of the worst examples of the denial of decency and due process.
That's what I don't get. I cheered when the Senate confirmed her as DNI. Now, I'm not so sure. Still trying to figure out if her "anti-war" stance was a lie, or if her mind was "changed" in the deep dark recesses of Langley.
The left is a cult or cult like. Two of my adult kids, seem to have cut off relations with their parents, because we voted for Trump and won’t understand the trans issue the way they see it. I have never liked the left and their ways but I thought some of it was politically motivated, on my part. I’ve tried to understand why they get behind certain issues and find some common ground. I’m pretty much done doing that now. There’s nothing I can relate to as far as they go now. Even if it means no relationship with 2 out of 3 of my children. What a time we live in. If I didn’t have grandchildren with the one remaining child, I really wouldn’t have much to live for, look forward to. I spent my whole adult life being a parent and loving it. It’s completely shattered in the blink of an eye really. I have zero patience for most people these days whereas I used to want to help the world be a better place. I keep my circle small, thanks to democrats truly ruining what was once good.
Well, my children voted for Harris and started pulling the “ I can’t believe you voted for Trump shit”. I merely told them we were visiting our attorney to rewrite our will, their jaws dropped. Things changed, but we are still visiting the attorney or spending every dime enjoying our remaining years. They are privileged, we did that to them. My husband and I worked hard since we were 14, supported both our parents and a few siblings. I’m done taking care of others. We now joined a country club (costly) and play golf a lot. Stopped free babysitting, free meals and trips. Someone earlier said follow the money. It’s true, sad but true
Yeah parenting is not for the weak, even when the kids are grown up. Dreams shattered but gotta get back on the horse and figure out how to exist in this crappy world and still have some sanity. Have fun playing golf!
Why? It’s not their money , they are not entitled. I can donate to charities. I don’t look at it as a punishment, it’s a choice. If they think we are greedy capitalists, then they can enjoy the splendor of government ownership
Look, either put your kids in your will or don't. But making whether they inherit from you a "gotcha" in a political argument is how you make them hate you. I know people who went no contact with rich parents just because said parents used giving and taking away financial things as rewards for acting grateful and punishments for criticizing them. They decided they'd literally rather be homeless than get jerked around like that.
I grew up in that house. "Do what I want you to do and be who I want you to be and I'll give you the money." No thank you, I will earn it myself. At least I know when I am working and when I am not.
Yeah, but my point is, that shouldn't be used as a power flex in a political argument. It would be the same thing if an adult child with elderly parents had their parents yell "how could you vote for this person?" at them, and replied with, "oh, well I guess I won't pay for your home health aide then".
The problem with your position is that according to the natural law children owe their infirm and elderly parents support in exchange for the support they received when they were children. This is why Achilles lamented his decision to obtain glory instead of old age. He states in the Iliad with a great deal of pain that he will be unable to repay his father for the kindnesses his father showed him. Similarly the Biblical commandment honor (meaning to repay your debt) your father and mother.
Matt you showed such self restraint and were brilliant to not take the bait. To see the former propaganda minister, Ms. Jankowicz there to speak about freedom of speech is simultaneously Orwellian and Stalinist. But we have learned that this is their MO, to try to discredit an intrepid journalist who deserves our thanks just based on the twitter files alone is despicable. That’s all they have invective and bs. You will win this case. Makes sure your lawyer demands a public apology in addition to cold hard cash!
You forgot the new daddy of all examples: Elon Musk. There has never been a smear campaign this concerted, this voluminous, this dishonest—and that's saying something.
The Left is tribal. It needs to believe that its people are good and anyone who disagrees is evil. There is no Left otherwise.
The moment someone strays from the plantation, it is absolutely necessary to condemn them as evil. If the Left did otherwise, it would have to defend the rightness or wrongness of positions on merit.
Spot on. The red guards hold struggle sessions against anyone who disagrees with them. Elon is another former Democrat who is being attacked and denounced by the woke mob: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/elon-musk-trump-struggle-session-gfy
This week a young college student I know (everybody is young to me) recounted a recent political discussion in class where he pointed out that both sides were correct and in agreement about enough of the issues being discussed it was possible to find common ground and solutions. He was roundly attacked by both sides.
The "psychic infection" being perped by the grift is to hold, in our case We the People, hostage to a manufactured national narrative that prevents the truth/fact based conversation that would produce the truth/fact based American reality that would create solutions and a path forward for our Republic. It's blatant obfuscation. As demonstrated by the nothing to do with the topic at hand attack on Matt in this weeks hearing. The Congresswoman was using the decades old misandrist Marxist feminist all men are rapists ploy. Feminist scorched earth cultural genocide (now the DEI) has been joined at the hip with the globalist surveillance totalitarianism the committee was there to discuss since day one. For them it's about getting paid and We the People be damned.
My view once again: Subscription journalism, truth/fact based reporting is helping us build the truth/fact based reality our Republic deserves.
Most likely had a few people screaming tribal yells at them for daring to think that anybody was like someone else today.
I love the big talking point that Trump didn't impose any Tariffs on Russia... Right... because we have SANCTIONS on them you morons!
Your claims about "feminism" are bizarre. Regardless, you're using a term so broad now that on any day I can see someone blaming "feminists" for capitalist overreach and blaming "feminists" for "communism."
Radical feminists since the 1970s to the present have partnered w/ conservative women (& men) on several causes, unlike the more elite "liberal feminists" who merged w/ male-centered misogynistic left parties by the 1980s and whose agenda never extends past anything that might threaten misogynistic leftist (now gay or trans-identified) men in the room. Hence women trying to make it in professions of journalism, academe & law either had to shut up about serious causes they cared about a great deal (like serial trafficking of poor kids & women of color & selling them to other men, then filming the rapes & circulating them). They could work on creating rape crisis & battered women's shelters, or raise awareness about how many poor women got fired for refusing to sleep w/ their boss--but they couldn't push to research or report on it, not for decades. AND, the women who really succeeded after the male-serving Sexual Revolution either began to believe they could become honorary men by adopting their values, or didn't care about the contradictions.
And this isn't "all men." But the misogyny among some male leftists simply rearranged a lot of traditional male privileges to allow them to get even more of them while pretending to care about women & kids.
Hence you've got a Barbara Walters in a 1977 interview of Dolly Parton mocking Parton for her sexual attractiveness, calling her a "joke," b/c that's how the misogynistic, porn-consuming, sexually exploitative editors in her profession saw Parton. Walters thought she could escape the same contemptuous ridicule if she joined in--becoming "serious". Likewise, 1980s ACLU female lawyers were the first to fight CIVIL legislation that passed a few municipalities in the mid 1980s to enable victims coerced into circulated pornography to have it taken off the market & to sue their rapists & profiteering pimps. Why, that violates the First Amendment, they said! The arguments for the legislation were basically the same ones now: REVENGE PORN! LACK OF CONSENT! HAVING YOUR RAPE CIRCULATED IN PERPETUITY.
But see, for these elitist liberal feminists, those rape victims weren't real. They were just the ideas the leftist men said they were, until social media enabled THEM to be treated the same way. The idea that Linda Marciano, who'd been repeatedly raped & beaten by her brutal pimp husband (who'd threaten her family on a regular basis & sold her to gross Playboy mansion movie stars) then filmed during several of them, didn't consent--and THAT HER HUMANITY MATTERED MORE THAN A MALE ORGASM--was ludicrous to the sneering, chuckling men who watched it. Thus these ACLU women wanted to prove how "objective" and "sexually liberated" they were, how unlike those "square" women or 'lesbians" who "hated sex." Until THEY became targets of nonconsensual porn.
Despite simplistic smearing, the real commonality between serious radical feminists who emerged during the Second Wave like Dworkin (who'd been beaten & pimped before in her teens & early 20s) & conservative women (& some men) was that they SAW the victims of these acts as FULL HUMAN BEINGS. Radical means root: and essentially, it's meant then & now that you SEE the see sexual predation & misogynistic abuse of women, children, or other men, raw--including the transmisogynistic predation happening today. You see humans first, & observe gendered dynamics w/o shying away, including how women can internalize & externalize misogyny to get elite status. People who're serious about justice--including gender critical feminists--don't get to pick winners and losers based on their politics, skin color, criminal hx, educational level, or geography. Otherwise you're just a special interest group, who'll put your "Party" or whatever compromised platform ahead of these fundamental values.
The handmaiden enablers of autogynephiliac predators today, who also ignore illegal immigration b/c it doesn't threaten their secure communities & ensures they have poor women to clean their toilets, have the same mentality. Their concern about sexual harassment is conditional, as a smear to weaponize & thereby please the leftist men in the room. It's like fighting rape while laughing about rape in male prisons. Or criticizing Hamas w/o saying out loud that raping boys is integral to their snuff-terrorism (& mentioning the epidemics among Orthodox Jews as well.)
DEITQ+ is an elitist backlash movement. It's has no more relationship w/ serious feminism that enabled battering & rape victims to have legal protections than it does w/ mid-century civil rights marches. These people are cowardly, status-seeking, self-serving grifters who're coopting concepts & language they ridiculed 30 yrs before. Blaming a movement that enabled women to have their own bank accounts & escape abusers for WEF totalitarianism is another form of misogyny.
Very interesting post! I enjoyed reading it.
I am a 2nd Wave radical feminist, was an activist during the Seventies and Eighties. We find ourselves in online communities and some political coalitions now that are an awkward fit to say the least. On the left I find young women who are very preoccupied with the evils of "Patriarchy," but who actually are tyrants themselves, particularly against women who refuse to pay tribute to their ideology and its deities.
Young woke feminists are horrible to straight guys as well, and those men believe they have been mistreated by "feminists," which causes them to become more hostile towards "feminism." A male colleague mansplained to me that I am not a feminist, that I regard myself as one inaccurately. If he gets to decide who the feminists are, I would agree with him that I am not "a feminist" by Gen Z standards. But the word "feminist" and the word "woman" are too important to turn over to a juvenile cult, so I insist on keeping their original meanings.
I am a woman proud to say I have never been a feminist. The whole ideology really repelled me from the start, even as a girl.
Then I grew up and learned all about Neo-Marxist ideologies. Feminism was simply one of their core indoctrinations to be pushed out onto the gullible Baby Boom youth. Excellent move toward social destruction of the West.
And if you insisted it made them liberal progressives -- very complimentary -- it appealed to their vanity too!
But for those whose lives have been overtaken by being feminists, they are unlikely to agree with this or to be able to let it go.
Thank you for "womansplaining" to us.
Interesting post and excellent argument. I don,t even know what “feminist” means so I don't use the word as an identifier. You are describing my idea of basic human decency.
04/06/25: EVERYONE'S claims about "feminism" are bizarre.
That's because it has become an ideological battleground that's been forever fouled by academics.
Academic feminism is as poisonous to a compassionate rational mind as Communism, which is no surprise since they have been stitched together in Frankenstein fashion.
Lowen Gore here points out that actual attempts to ensure women are treated fairly, equally, and properly defended from predation and abuse have been obscured by the political nonsense adopted by rich dimwits and their spawn going to elite colleges.
What the ideal relationship between men and women might be, and what sort of mating arrangements are best for a healthy society is another matter and will probably never be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
04/06/25: Put 'em all on a plane and crash it.
I think it boils down to one thing - American women have a serious problem with admitting mistakes. This is a human issue that's seems worse with Americans, and substantially worse with American women.
American women, obviously for naive reasons, wanted the same things men had. Even though most husbands came home every day and at least complained a lot, and probably frequently ranted about the horrors of the world they were trapped in, with some actually getting violent, alchoholism, drug addiction, etc. Still, American women wanted a piece of it.
They got a piece of it. How's it taste, Ladies? Not so great, huh? Now they WILL NOT admit they were wrong in wanting in to the devils triangle. They have to be right, even if it means complete destruction. That seems to be the current road American women are on.
"Feminism" itself is bizarre. Very similar to Communism in that it was designed to lure in masses of Useful Idiots who would then get the fence painted as In "Tom Sawyer". While the social engineers of this scam sat back smugly and laughed.
Two thoughts here, Lowen.
Why are the issues associated with these men always attributed to their maleness, as opposed to their faults as human beings? Many women are faulty too, but this is described, generally, as an issue of that particular individual rather than the entire sex.
Feminism as it was sprung on society in the late 60s/70s, and has been ongoing in one form or another, has caused far more damage to mankind than the faults which men are supposed to have....according to feminism. For example, there have been over 63 million abortions in the U.S. since the original Roe v. Wade. Presumably it was women in the majority of cases who decided on these abortions. And no, you cannot skirt this issue by claiming that an unborn child is not human. That was only ever just a deceitful manipulation tactic. If we are comparing the propensity and the acts of violence for each sex....I would say that women come out far ahead here, wouldn't you?
I am a non-feminist woman, btw.
Women who are bad for men are usually bad for other women as well. Likewise, men who are bad for women are usually bad for other men. My point, on all fronts, it is the willful (for profit) distortion of the healthy national truth/fact based conversation We the People deserve, and must demand, that is, that "party line" LYING for cash and career at the expense of honest solutions based inquiry is pathogenic and its time to say that out loud. Free peoples will not live and cannot survive inside the moral vacuum of a LIE. The unhuman immensity, and oppression of the DNC/WEF/EU/CCP Davos generated LIE is why Trump won the election. In terms of a free American Republic, the Congresswoman in question and Mrs. Jankowicz exist beyond the lines of empowering moral demarcation and moral reason our founding fathers fought to include in our Constitution. Ideological utopianism at the service of the malignant narcissism of our present billionaire elite is the same "psychic infection" that almost burned the 20th century to the ground. The healthy truth/fact based reality We the People are building through subscription journalism is a one person at a time wake-up.
Thanks, Mike. Yes, this behaviour is indeed pathogenic -- I have been writing about that aspect for years. And finding the answers as to what, precisely, it is.
As I have said here in a number of posts, this is totalitarianism. Usually controlled and injected into society by Psychopaths at the top. Then it floods our mental/emotional systems, and wreaks havoc.
Reminds me of a wise man who said, We have to love our children more than we hate each other. Just brilliant
So disappointing college kids cannot humanize the ‘other side’ because that boy was correct. There is far more in common and the divisions are created artificially.
The problem with this glossing over of differences is that on the areas of disagreement, guns and abortion being two flash points, the divisions run so deep as to be insurmountable.
You do realize that politicians are pushing those issues to the forefront precisely because they are divisive.
That is a circular argument. The are divisive because there are strongly held positions, which, in turn, politicians use to gain traction and increase visibility into other things.
Good on this young student. I hope he and others like him persist in his efforts and that people come to see the obvious about the dangers of over-identification.
That is the common thread here. Division. A certain force, I could say globalists, want us divided. It’s how to take down the world super power. From within. Can’t be done any other way.
You are using the 5 decade ploy of lumping all "feminists" into a hive mind of deplorables with "The decades old misandrist Marxist feminist all men are rapists ploy." That includes only a subset of feminists, but doing so substitutes for presenting an argument with evidence. Many of the so-called feminists you refer to learned from the best: manipulative, misogynistic men and women bent on destroying female advancement.
No. It was never about female advancement. That was just the smokescreen You fell for it. You believed that the tactics used by Neo-Marxists to lure in the masses were actually true and valid.
I am a female who advanced by virtue of my own efforts and skills. I refuted feminism. I could not bear it, in fact.
And yet...here I am.
Does "both sides" refer to student/citizen discussion or party narrative? A lot of normal people can come to some agreement over the back fence, while political parties see “the aisle” as the border between heaven and hell.
I seriously doubt Elon was ever a Dem.
I have no doubt he was. Do you doubt Rogan and Gabbard and Taibbi were Dems, too? The Party changed, these people didn't. The machinations of the party changed and it has become a manipulative oppressive do-nothing abusive war-mongering group that pits groups of American people against each other while enriching themselves at the public trough and ignoring the very well-being of our United States as evidenced by everything from a authoritarian lock-downs, school and work closures, to the corrupted
FDA, NIH, CDC and George Soros funded elections (latest in WI with Dem and Soros outspending everyone, including Musk) and a general decline in health and security of the country as a whole. Their latest behavior seems to say: "Let's march on to nuclear war by baiting Russia with Ukraine as our proxy." And it is finally admitted even by the woke NYT.
Thank you. Repeat loud and louder: the Democratic Party changed, we didn't.
The party that neocons endorse is the worst party.
The DP hasn't been worth a plugged nickel since the Kennedys were assassinated, and even then we were still grappling with people like George Wallace and Orval Faubus, who were desperately trying to save the original Party that vainly tried to maintain the genteel matriarchal Old South and all the hypocritical gussied up evil that went along with it.
There was a time when the party had potential, but now it should die, and its champions driven into the wilderness like feral pigs.
Well you don't mince words, BH!
He’s a libertarian. All the Tech bros are. Except Musk has a streak of fascism in him too
What's Fascist about Musk? I hear this all the time, but it makes no sense.
You won't get an answer to this reasonable question: I struggle to recall any recent time in which users of labels such as "fascist", "nazi", "racist", "bigot", authoritarian", etc have been able to give any kind of coherent explanation for their spewings...
Mussolini said fascism was the merger between state and corporate power. By that definition, the usa has been fascist for 100+ years.
It’s more a streak of Autism
Reading this after listening Michael Shellenberger’s speech at the Institute of Public Affairs thinking how blessed we are to have the likes of these journalists. I can only imagine how alone I would be in my elitist community on the NH Seacoast…a deep blue area in a formerly Red state. Good luck Matt…I hope you can feel the support for you from your readers and supporters.
I seriously doubt he still isn't. I am still a Liberal, it's just the left lapped me twice running around the track to the left. I think Elon is absolutely still politically the same person he always has been, and that is a conservative Democrat. We do exist.
Wait, you're still a Liberal but also a conservative Democrat? Those don't seem congruous to me.
Aren't those different dimensions? I think of Liberal as meaning open-minded, tolerant, generous, and pro-freedom, and of Conservative as wanting to preserve and cherish one's past and culture. If one's traditional culture was freer than what is coming down on us, don't Liberal and Conservative converge to the same thing?
Sincere question, not trying to troll.
Why don't they? The problem is... Liberal Democrat has been bastardized. Kennedy was a Liberal for the most part. Today we associate Liberals with lunatics with Purple hair and bones through their noses. It's quite far from the truth. I was raised in a Steel worker union household. All of those things are still me. The problem is.. our political world has RUN to the left, and those of us that are still here where we've always been are basically Conservative Republicans.
I have to put myself where you are. My former party is so far Left now, all I hear is the screeching.
This is precisely why the Party should be broken and its members driven into the political wilderness. Who does it serve but rich pricks with totalitarian politics?
Trump has led the Republican Party to a place where we working class slobs can feel like we have someone working in our interest, but for the most part politicians of either party who honestly want to serve their voters are few. The RP is also filled with rich pricks, but with modified totalitarian politics or, in the best cases, streaks of Libertarianism.
Much like a lot of the corporate master class and political opportunists, Elon never belonged to any particular party or tribe. He's in it for his own goals, including self-enrichment, trans-humanist fantasies, a family dynasty and getting to Mars.
Self enrichment? Hey Tommy, didn’t you hear. He’s the richest man on the planet. He is also volunteering his valuable time away from his companies to stop waste and fraud and help his country. Your comment is ridiculous.
Hey dumbfuck, you could have simply licked Elon's boot but you chose to make a whole meal out of it.
His companies that rely heavily on government interventions? To "volunteer" in the government in ways that prevent the government from finding waste and fraud in his own companies?
Enjoy that synthetic leather, idiot.
This is true, but at the same time, Tesla and SpaceX have become leaders in their respective industries for a reason. How did tesla leapfrog every single automaker in the world in EV technology? Why didn't any other aerospace company private or government subsidized develop reusable boosters? Why did spaceX have to rescue stranded astronauts and not boeing?
Oh my. Little Tommy has his panties in a twist. Like most libtards, he is unable to defend his asinine claims and resorts immediately to name calling. You should probably get back to work now, Tommy. Those toilets aren’t going to clean themselves.
We all were. As has been documented, tge Party changed. Not us.
Didn't he give a ton of money to Obama?
Yuri, you missed getting the top spot today! Dang....
Andrew Sullivan is distracting Yuri...
Yuri has his games, doesn't he? And he craves attention. I grew tired of them long ago, and started questioning him. So of course Yuri banned me from his Substack. Being that paragon of democratic virtues that he claims to be. Ahem.
So now I use him as an example in my writing 😁. When I point out various types.
My snark was directed at Sullivan, not YB. Just to be clear.
OK, understood. Mine was directed at Yuri.
That's good to know, thank you.
Yuri, you do not really understand this. You think you do, and it is a once-niche topic that you can build a Substack around.
But you get many of the facts wrong, or not quite right, or you omit them. You are not doing a community service. You are just running an Influencer site.
You sound obsessed.
I have actual expertise in the field. I do not like to see things misrepresented. For entertainment purposes.
You sound.....odd. C'mon Marcia....you must have realized that Yuri is just an Influencer in it for the business. That once he had you hooked, he could tell you anything and you would swallow it. Rather like the Democrats.
Elon former Democrat. LMFAO. As if any of these billionaires or rich losers like Trump ever actually have a party in this partisan oligarch system.
More than tribal, it is a religion. (See my comment)
A cult would be a more accurate description than a religion. Cults cut off people and attack them when they leave. Cultists can never admit the truth because that means that they are wrong...about everything. Thus they always double down.
As the saying goes, it is easier to fool a man, than to convince a man that he has been fooled.
I agree that "cult" is a better descriptor, though it has nothing to do with any theology.
I submit there are two points (one is actually a question) they don't consider:
1)The one in the mirror is the one most readily deceived.
2)When was the last time you had to sell yourself on a good decision?
Any and all totalitarian groups -- such as cults or infected political parties -- will have a group narrative.
A religion, yes, with more prescriptions and prohibitions than the catechism but with no deity before whom one is ultimately accountable beyond the cause du jour.
The deity they worship is History. It is their ultimate judge.
That judge is unlikely to render a favorable verdict on their recent antics.
Have you seen the film The Dig? I recommend it; it reminds me that the past lives forever, the present dies every second, and the future will make itself no matter our efforts to shape it beforehand.
Like you said Matt "JUST WHO THEY ARE" !! Right on man.
Yep, and the likes of Matt are apostates.
And we know apostates are much more hated than the infidels
The parallels between the hard Left and Scientology are tight. Especially in treatment of those of prominence, that leave the club.
Here’s words from Hubbard’s ‘Dianetics’ that brought a lot of unhappy people into Scientology:
“What is true is what is true for you. No one has any right to force data on you and command you to believe it or else. If it is not true for you, it isn’t true. Think your own way through things, accept what is true for you, discard the rest. There is nothing unhappier than one who tries to live in a chaos of lies.”
It’s another form of post modernism. It’s what makes arguing with a clone member in this hive impossible. Typically poorly objectively informed, always emotional, frequently condescending because they’re right and you’re clearly wrong. It’s why deflection, name calling and condemnation is their stock and trade.
Agreed. I first thought the parallels just cultish, but then there's the way they go after the "sinners". That is very much like Scientology.
Scientology also uses a classic 4 step process to capture recruits, that also parallels how youth are sucked into the cult of the Left
1. Make contact
2. Disarm any antagonism towards Scientology
3. Find the ‘ruin’. This part very critical. Find out ‘what is the problem’ on each individual’s mind. Think ‘climate change’, ‘oppression of trans or insert your victim group of choice’ for hard Left. In decades past for Scientology recruits it might be a failed romance, bad parents and other traumas specific to individual.
4. Convince recruit Scientology has the answer. Once the person is aware of the ruin, bring about an understanding that (only) Scientology can handle the condition
The Right is a victim mentality cult where they are always the victim lol. The above applies to your cult as well, but once you're in one, it's tough to identify 😂
Sure, I can see your point. However, I would suggest that those on the right are not denying certain basic truths, in the way those on the left are. The right is not confused about what is a women, for example.
And the right does not mind being questioned or having an open and unbiased good ol' debate.
That is apparent and I agree. Also, I find it useful to think of left/right political orientation on a spectrum, from batshit crazy Communists/National Socialists on the far left to every-man-is-an- island Libertarians on the Right.
Recent history shows that right-oriented politics is more rational, more humane, more open to unorthodox thinking, and more resistant to ideological capture.
I don't see how the Right views itself as victims -- other than when they actually ARE victims, of course (J6 defendants, Trump Admin figures, Trump himself).
It seems like everyone (other than straight white males) on the left is a victim, though. Women who encounter any pushback on any issue scream "Misogyny," minorities who don't get their own way scream "RACISM," trans individuals are now at the pinnacle of the victimology pyramid, and any opposition to men playing in women's sports, or invading women's spaces, is met with shrieks of "Transphobia!"
The only people on the left who don't behave like victims are straight white males, who spend an undue amount of time bowing and apologizing to everyone they meet for their straightness and their whiteness. Remember Soy boys for Harris? Pathetic.
Don't forget how it started during BLM. They would literally bow in front of black people who put their boots on a milk crate for the cucks to worship. I've never seen anything like it. Oh wait.... I did. In the capital. When Nancy put on the kente cloth and bowed, lowered her head and thought about her box of wine awaiting her return to the office.
You're onto something, BookWench! I don't know exactly what it is, but your onto something. Look, why are they arresting Russell Brand for sexual indiscretions from 20 years ago? The whole thing is so fishy! What's really going on?
Republicans do not throw each other under the bus when a disagreement arises.
I believe that many if not most "straight white males, who spend an undue amount of time bowing and apologizing to everyone they meet for their straightness and their whiteness" are angling to get laid, including the "pathetic Soy Boys for Harris."
Well said.
All of the above is playing the victim! Biden did it to us and we have to do the same others. Woe unto me, I'm a white person, that is a transgender person swimming, playing etc etc. It's just another day of being the victim in your world. Took on the woke left and became more woke right. No principles, just the victim every day.
I was in a religious cult for years. You are Correct—cult members can’t see it from within. You have to get out to see it. That is the truth. I cringe now remembering what nonsense I believed. I got out of the democrat cult. I have experienced much cringing and anger. That list of how you know you are in a cult matches up with my past religion and the democrats today.
This is totalitarian...found in Cluster-B types and their relationships, in addicts, in cults, in gangs, in organized crime groups, in extremist religions of either leftwing or rightwing, in Communists, in Nazis.
It is a very patterned way of thought and behaviour. As if they all study a manual first.
Have you ever considered that totalitarianism exists soley because humanity decided that mass civilization was the best method? Totalitarianism could not easily exist in a clan or tribal (family, county, town, state, ect?) environment, right? Only in a sporatic way, more as slave owners, which cannot control the mobility of the slaves.
No, you are mis-defining totalitarianism Ollo. Most people do. They know it only as a political authoritarian regime over a whole population. That is one form, but there are many others.
Totalitarianism is a highly dysfunctional group dynamic, actually. It is a mental state. It appears in a number of very specific circumstances and groups. Even in some families.
Okay. But who cares then? People care when it becomes a systemic problem for their future, for the lives of their children. That's the time to deal with the systemic problem. Leave the philosophizing for later. The understanding of what happened is very important, but focusing on "that's just the way people are" is what got us into this mess in the first place.
I know "family totalitarianism". I was raised in a brutal "family regime". Not just in my family, but it was all around me. You want a story, here you go:
I was a 9 year old very sensitive boy. I was too aware of my environment. It was quite confusing. I did a sleep-over at a classmate's house on a Friday night. We were watching TV when their drunk dad came home. It ended with him chasing their mom around the house with a butcher's knife, cops on the scene, and telling him to go sleep it off. They left three 9 year-olds in the same house with that lunatic.
I have read through most of the memoirs and analyses of extremist religious groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, various Doomsday Cults, etc. Then of course there is the "Religion of Peace" as a rightwing extremist religion too.
They all display the etched-in-stone pattern of all totalitarians:
If someone questions or dissents to their leader(s) or group narrative, even slightly, they will
SHUN/SMEAR/PUNISH to varying degrees. Depending on the overall culture.
I wouldn’t categorize “Mormons” better known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as extremist. I would hope that in your investigation you went straight to the source instead of reading an outsider’s view. Upon further investigation you might find that we are quite “normal” and add quite a bit of value to society.
There are several good memoirs and websites written by former members of groups such as the Mormons and JWs. But current members are unlikely to read these.
Most cult members would not say their group is a cult...or they wouldn't have joined to begin with. If a person is born into such a group, it is that much more difficult to see beyond it. Or to see the gaping holes in the group narrative.
Yes, and I would say the same about Jehovah's Witnesses. My experience with them, in fact, left me very impressed with their basic honesty and sense of decency.
That doesn't preclude what I am saying. The JWs are an extremist religious group which meets the definition of totalitarianism. Which is a specific highly dysfunctional group dynamic. Their group narrative means everything to them. They will shun (from families) even young teens who dissent or disagree; the group means more than family bonds. You might read through a few of the websites for escaped JWs and see whether you still hold the same opinion.
We all want other people to agree with us and share our values, especially our nearest and dearest. That general desire is greatly inflamed when we feel, rightly or not, that the larger world is out to get us. Individuals who feel that way may react to dissenters in their own family by shunning them.
That makes for a family tragedy, but it does not prove that the whole group stands for shunning of apostates. We might feel that way about the group in general if that is our experience with multiple members of it, as many of us have been coming to conclude about Democrats in recent years. But experience may vary, and unless it is firmly written down in the very doctrine of the religion/cult/ideology/party, we cannot really say that the entire group is categorically that way.
On the other hand, mainstream religions tend to be balanced between extremes, and add value to society.
Scientology? Religion light for the easily deceived. The hard left? Same. good parallel.
That actually makes no sense at all. If the "truths" you have convinced yourself are true are really lies then in your gut you know that to be true and your gut will try and convince you.
You cannot ever be happy living with lies you tell yourself are true.
That is not to say you can see the truth and have an opinion on how to live with that truth that is different than your neighbors idea of how to deal with the truth.
All this circular logic makes me dizzy. I suppose that it the dem/scientologists goal though isn't it.
VN, the issue here is that a person must have a conscience to be unhappy living with lies. You are looking at this from just one point of view.
A totalitarian/Cluster-B type has no development of conscience. We are not born with it. It must be developed in childhood. Sometimes this goes wrong. Therefore they see the world almost 180 degrees differently than normal people do.
What a BS-artist that fellow was. He told them whatever they wanted to hear. And charged them for it. Which us how he maintained his status and wealth.
Is this where that silly phrase "my truth" came from?
YIKES! That's some sick, manipulative $41T!
04/05/25: "Why Do Democrats Destroy Their Own?" "Tribal" is exactly the right word. Because it's a Mafia. A criminal outfit. A racket. WDC, On The Waterfront. And you can only leave feet-first. Right, Glenn? Right, Tulsi? Anyone heard from Seth Rich lately? "Mr Epstein, it's for you, on line one, Bill Barr."
Funny you should say that. Certain organized crime groups are totalitarian. Just like the WOKE/Democrats are totalitarian.
04/05/25: Bullseye. But --- curious --- why the word "certain"?
Because I am referring to organized crime groups under Cluster-B leaders, as opposed to spontaneous crime groups which arise from less clear motivations, and often dissolve just as quickly.
The Mafia and organized human trafficking rings are totalitarian.
04/05/25: Excellent distinction. Thank you.
It's exactly why I lost friends and family even though we rarely discussed politics. They just needed to know who I voted for. Actually, who they'd assumed I voted for based on any comment I made following an impromptu interrogation concerning my posions on free speech, abortion, gender anything, diversity, or racism. Good riddance.
There are a lot of people losing family these days in the West to totalitarianism. Much like the East European Stasi and the Chinese Red Guard split families.
Or the Cluster-B parent gone berserk who weaponizes the children against the normal parent.
This is a good point that demonstrates the fundamental psychological difference between the right and left. You would still have maintained those relationships had they accepted that you appeared to have been politically right leaning. Because of this it is truly their loss. Note: not all people on the left lose family and friends this way.
You can make a strong argument that a lot of the Left’s positions, DEI, open borders-mass migration, self-identifying gender identity, are a step backwards for Western Civilization.
“Progressivism” has always defined as “change for change’s sake”, directly opposite “conservatism”.
The thing is, “conservatism” makes sense as a starting point because everything that is evolved to its current state for reasons. “Burn it down for the sake of change” is always going to do a lot more harm than good.
Moreover, the “truth is subjective” current makes it easy to simply not know any history, which means that Leftists frequently dredge up horrible, failed ideas from the past and say “I’ve never seen this before; let’s try it!”
Not just a step backwards, but a very strong attempt over decades to destroy Western Civilization.
They call it the "Great Reset".
Yep, the "Left" is basically a return to paganism.
It is not just tribalism. Many tribal groups are normal.
The Left/WOKE/Democrats are a totalitarian group. THAT is the big distinction. And being totalitarian means they will automatically behave within certain behaviour patterns and types of thinking. Often very bizarre, which normal people just cannot grasp.
They do not operate on sense or logic. Something far deeper and more sinister takes them over.
Hayek had an interesting take on those sorts. As people who already know everything and what the “solutions” are, they are naturally attracted to central planning. Unfortunately, the universe is too random to accommodate planning that way, so they are always wrong. Unable to accept being wrong, they gravitate to more and more ruthless measures to cover that fact up, which includes persecution, murder, and genocide. Totalitarianism, in other words.
The Communists are one of the largest and most well-known variants of totalitarianism. And as you say, they just cannot fathom being wrong.
Never wrong!
I completely agree that totalitarianism is the main problem with the woke left. The word "total" captures the quality of total immersion in a cult to the point of having no separate sense of self.
I commend you on your being gracious here Sandra, even though you know I do not support feminism, and you do. I can respect someone like that.
As for totalitarianism, someone once commented that this state is possible because human beings have hackable brains. We have mental/emotional loopholes left over from evolution, which opportunistic manipulators and power-mongers will use. They seek opportune moments and vulnerabilities. Or they create them. And then given our herd-affinity, the damaged perspectives spread.
I believe that most problems with human behavior on a large scale are due to evolutionary flaws. On a general level, the fact that we are animals and so much of our feelings and behavior are guided more by our animal nature than the supposedly more advanced human cortex. And on the level of detail, random natural selection obviously leaves a lot of dysfunctional traits in a species over very long periods of time.
I am grappling just now with the ideas put forth by Anthropologist Francisco Gil-White on his Substack, concerning a shift in mental evolution in ancient Mesopotamia under leader Sargon of Akkad, and what this may have meant for humanity. Even today.
I am also convinced of a few of the ideas of Julian Jaynes, author of the 1970s book on the Bicameral Mind/Consciousness.
It's a tricky, complex puzzle, all of this. And we must live life while we are working it out.
Nice talking to you, Sandra. Good evening.
I read the Jaynes book back when it was first published, and was very impressed by some of his ideas.
I enjoyed our conversation as well, and will look forward to more opportunities to chat with you.
There are loopholes left in us from evolution, which are normally not a real issue. In a relatively reasonable stable society, where we have social support and working institutions.
If masses of us come to be in a vulnerable situation though, or it is created, the vultures descend and look for the loopholes.
Vultures and opportunistic infections. The failure to defend national borders and the refusal by elites to support individuals who defend themselves are essentially the breakdown of the national and social immune system.
Isn't that also what cults do?
Well, you are literally describing MAGA. Trump's entire team and his political MO. Contradict anything Trump says and you are scum, a liar, a weak loser, should be sued or jailed or worse.
Both sides are recklessly, psychopathically tribal. What are you talking about?
Try being a three-time Trump voter at a town hall, voicing your concerns at how you and thousands of your fellow veterans were unlawfully fired from the job you've done well for years.
Try being anyone protesting campaign promises not being met: prices down on day one, ending Ukranian war day one, no more wars...except perhaps a little excusable WWIII kickoff with Iran pending...and threatening invasions of key allies Canada and Denmark, and perpetuating, hell, celebrating, the killing of 100 children a day in Gaza (because those aren't human children after all).
Forget that, don't waste your time even mentioning it. It's all 100% astroturf. George Soros is the only explanation for any dissent about the right. Literally nobody on earth disagrees with Trump unless they are paid to do so or "retarded" as free speech now supposedly dictates we can say.
And don't you dare to mention the fact that Trump is a convicted rapist (convicted by a group of his own peers for putting his fingers inside a woman when she didn't want his disgusting hands inside her). Don't exercise your free speech to remind people of something so irrelevant. You'll get yourself sued for $15 million.
And don't you even think about saying Trump's lame and completely debunked stolen election claims are a "big lie." Big mistake. That's $475 million dollars worth of trouble for your free speech. Do not bother.
Don't do what every network does every single day by editing down a long-form video segment of a politician doing word salad. Don't even worry if it didn't change the content of the speech a bit. Don't do it! That's $10 Billion with of pain.
I'll stop there because this is just some pointless comment in a pointless thread. But the proof that "free speech is back, baby" goes on and on and on.
What you should do, though, is needlepoint your way into demonstrations of the left crushing free speech while - and this the key part - claiming that ONLY the left does this.
Such things as the "ideological exclusion provision" mentioned by Matt in this piece, where, in the wake of the admittedly horrific Patriot Act (Republican legislation), a few professors were not being allowed into the country in 2006 - a blood-curdling curtailing of free speech because Americans were "prevented from engaging in face-to-face dialogue and debate" with said professors. In other words, "suspected terrorists" were not being allowed to cross the border INTO AMERICA while the country was fighting Al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, "suspected terrorists" in 2025 are being deported to torture holes without due process - and not being returned even when their innocence is a matter of certainty. Instead, these innocents get defamed and slandered after the fact by the Press Secretary as still being dangerous gang leaders on globally watched TV, while the admin's own legal defence admits otherwise in court.
Nothing to see here. That's not defamation at all. Insult to injury to insanity.
Only the left is capable of being tribal, it's a good point you bring up. Makes you think.
A convicted rapist must be criminally charged, and found guilty. Trump was never criminally charged, let alone convicted.
A civil suit, made possible by a NY law drafted just for Trump, allowed a civil suit to brought 30 years after a supposed, public attack, that was never before mentioned. Unbelievably, the allegations lacked a day, month or, even a year, certain. The suit also lacked any physical evidence, any eye witness testimony or any corresponding medical or therapy records. In the midst of an AIDS epidemic, the "victim " never bothered with an HIV test. No witness ever put Trump and the "victim" together, anywhere on the planet, let alone the department store venue , alleged, despite Trump being one of the most recognized faces on earth.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Trump, but any man cheering the travesty of the rape civil suit, should realize the precedent sent, when a woman can claim rape 30 years after the fact, without a single piece of corresponding evidence, save a supposed conversation with a girl friend.
Exactly.
I'm open to the nuances behind any of that. I really don't have the time to properly re-litigate it today but here is what I've managed to find verified from multiple sources as best I can:
Re: The Adult Survivors Act being "made possible by a NY law drafted just for Trump." This was a one-year window, modelled after the earlier Child Victims Act. It was designed so adult survivors of sexual offences could file civil lawsuits against their alleged abusers regardless of when the incidents happened. In that window 3,000 other lawsuits were filed under the act, lots of them by high profile people and institutions. So, I guess it's theoretically possible that this was all done just to "get Trump", and those thousands of cases were just collateral byproduct of the conspiracy, but I personally feel that's a stretch.
You're right it was civil, not criminal. I shouldn't have said "convicted" because he was only "found liable." Totally fair.
Caroll's evidence did rely mostly on corroboration from friends - and other women who claimed to have had abusive experiences with Trump. So, yeah, it's not the tightest set of claims, admittedly. But also, a bunch of people on a jury did find him guilty (liable) and that jury was selected in part by Trump's defence team. I mean, I don't make the rules, and a bunch of people didn't think he was innocent. So there's that.
One thing you didn't mention, for colour, is that Trump always maintained he had never met Carol, yet was shown a photo of them together in his deposition, when he said it was his ex, Marla Maples. So I guess the photo disproves he didn't know her?
Anyway, I'm actually someone who believes quite strongly in innocence until proven guilty. Without that, we're basically fucked. I found a good amount of what happened during #metoo pushed against, if not violated that principle. So it's not like I even disagree with you.
The he-said / she-said aspect of crime will only be resolved imo if we achieve TOTAL SURVEILLANCE...a project well underway by our techno-lords...and actually something I'd very cautiously consider just to solve the "evidence hole" problem, at least philosophically (but like, not really haha).
So yeah, okay. That example isn't perfect. I'm willing to meet you in the middle on that for sure. Still, I would encourage you to go and examine the many ways the right, like the left, is doing its own tribal warfare. It's not like they're hiding it...like, at all. And it's maddening when both sides do it, to me, because we have a lot of work to do as a fucking species and this is just hampering us all, as we toss a bloody napkin over the fucking doomsday clock.
Lastly, and not to harangue your Saturday, my main ongoing beef is that Taibi, to my eye anyway, is cherrypicking with bad faith in plain sight nowadays. Whereas he used to work hard to hold both sides' feet to the fire. I really fucking miss that.
With the dubiousness showering down on all of us from all angles 24-7, we need that.
The woman could not remember the year. That should have ended all prosecution. She never claimed to be drunk or incapacitated. There is no way to defend yourself against an accusation that lacks a year, let alone a month and day.
My husband spent nearly 20 years, all over the world, for business. What happens when a woman surfaces that says he raped her, in Singapore in the mid 90s. She cannot remember the day, month or year, but she knows the hotel had an opulent lobby, they had a seafood dinner, and then he raped her, in his hotel room? No corresponding eye witness testimony, no physical evidence or corresponding medical or therapy records. How does one defend against such a claim?
Statute of limitations exist because memory fades. Evidence disappears, and the ability to refute an allegation, becomes harder each day from an alleged attack. The alleged victim was not a child or emotionally challenged , she waited 30 years, without a day , month or year of the attack? That alone, should have been case closed.
Like I said, cases like this are problematic. It's a dangerous slope of precedent, so I'm with you on being cautious here.
For the record, Carroll didn't say it happened in a random stretch of years or in a place she couldn't recollect, like in your Singapore hypothetical. She said it happened in Spring '96 in a Bergdorf dressing room. The evidence is sparse as you said, there's no need to exaggerate your point.
However, this is what the jury is supposed to be for. They saw the facts of the case we got to see. Looks like the jury took Donald's own advice to heart: "play the man, not the ball."
Tip: if you don't want to be so vulnerable to a group of your peers finding you guilty on such scant evidence, maybe don't create a creepy aura of menace around yourself for most of your life.
For starters, maybe don't be close friends with Jeffery Epstein or wish Ghislaine Maxwell well as she's on trial for child trafficking. Don't go on Howard Stern and repeatedly call your own daughter a "piece of ass" or say celebrities like him can "grab women by the pussy", or barge into Miss Teen pageants unannounced "because I'm the owner."
Here are the quotes from the Stern show about the pageants:
"I’ll go backstage before a show, and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else...you know, no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And therefore I’m inspecting it…is everyone OK? You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible-looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that."
We're talking about ogling nude teens here. Maybe some people (jurists) find something off and repugnant about that.
Don't get me wrong You are free to say all 26 women who brought forward sexual misconduct allegations are liars. You are also free to zero out Ivanka's own claim that Trump raped her because she did later retract it. But I'm gonna venture a guess: this all adds up to a shit person, an abuser of women. And I'm free to think it. There is evidence of it.
You're a woman, right? I'm genuinely curious how all of that strikes you.
Also, this whole Jean Carroll thing was just a fragment of a larger argument I was making. That Trump will sue anybody on inane technicalities (like the others I mentioned), which has a chilling effect on free speech - something we all know is Taibi's third rail, which I do champion him for having gone after so ardently over the years.
But lately Matt is too pissed at the Dems and "the left" to caution against most of this blatant anti-free speech activity coming from Trump's side. He's out there digging into the Garcia case, I believe, so maybe that topic will be an exception.
I already mentioned this but it was ignored, so I'll say it again. Kilmar Garcia was deported without cause or due process to a terrorist confinement centre. When the admin realized its mistake, and in court their JD attorney expressly stated there was no evidence of gang affiliation, Karoline Leavitt, Tump's mouthpiece, still went on TV saying he was a member of MS-13. This is a clear and ugly case of defamation.
Last one: Trump's executive orders targeting law firms for having engaged in litigation "perceived as adversarial to the administration." These are wild attacks on free speech. It intimidates the law profession from open advocacy itself. Extracting tens of millions in pro bono services in the process, in fear of reprisal, is a very dangerous precedent to set.
It's the opposite of a free speech agenda. And what America is in principle - that's why it's the first amendment. It's what Taibi claims to stand for, seemingly above all else. But he's too busy nitpicking about the Dems and "the left" while we have a very active and present danger posed to our rights going on right in front of us with this presidency.
Just call out the shit on both sides, for fuck's sake. It's not a complicated journalistic standard. We need strong writers and researchers with integrity, not partisan hacks. Come back Matt.
"I really don't have the time to properly re-litigate [the phony smear I just parroted off the Democrat talking points memo]."
Yeah, we know.
Ignores the other 99% of it. The part where I litigated more than the original rebuttal. Lol
Not a Trump fan but I'm pretty sure the EJC "rape" never took place. In addition to what you stated, Democrat doner billionaire Reid Hoffman funded her lawsuit. Trump was 49 years old at the time and EJC was 52. I'm pretty sure he never had anything to do with a woman older than he is, especially one in her 50s.
Comment of the day. Bravo!
Anyone who thinks their party leadership is 100% correct on all matters, is indeed, brainwashed. This goes for right or left.
Exactly right. Matt T. is talking about an active faction of Dems being tribal. MAGA is the mirror opposite. I have to argue with too many on my own "side" these days.
Not all Dems are this tribal. But those non crazies are currently a ‘silent majority’ inside D party and looking for an escape hatch. The escape so far has to been to join Trump, who I view as a Populist, and not Republican. As a lifelong Republican, I no longer identify w/ GOP. But I do identify with wanting to Make America Great Again, and have voted Trump 3x. Some things he does I don’t agree with (1st Amendment due process stuff bothers me especially for not protecting those who speech I don’t like) but overall the alternative frightens me (much) more.
Help me understand your definition of populist. How is it populist to:
- Push a budget giving 4.5 - 6 trillion dollars to the wealthiest and corporations in tax cuts, while cutting Medicaid by $2 trillion, SNAP, firing 80,000 from Veteran's Affairs, stacking the NLRB against labour, etc.
- Claim you'll pay for the cuts with tariffs, which is a tax on US importers falling largely on we the consumers in the form of higher prices?
- Create a shit coin on the eve of inauguration, siphoning over $2 billion from 800,000 wallets of your own working class supporters who bought into the con? (and get untraceable crypto bribes from anyone anywhere for anything while holding office to boot)
That's for starters. But let me tell you what scares me, then you can tell me what I'm getting wrong. Let's just use the tariffs as an example.
Pretty much any credible analyst on both the left and the right have now analyzed the tariff math and the verdict is in: the Trump admin just made up the numbers. They calculated the by-country tariffs falsely, with no real reflection of trade-balance reality. Here is a hard neo-con analysis I thought was pretty spot in if you're interested in a "non lib" take:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-commentary-magazine-podcast/id1081967784?i=1000702062330
When he tells you why America needs Liberation Day, he very confidently points to a chart his team made with a bunch of fake numbers to explain why. They didn't even have the entry level professionalism not to include uninhabited islands from their list of places who were "ripping them off."
I don't want to bore you with the economics, but it comes down to the US having the world reserve currency. It means you can't have a trade surplus, pretty much by default, based on how money works. Here is a core part of the concept called the Triffin Dilemma, if you care:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffin_dilemma
So the guy is single-handedly overturning the global economy with an openly misleading and patently false reasoning system behind it. He just gets up there and divides the surplus by the deficit, then divides by two (you know, because he's a super nice and fair guy). If this doesn't bother you or make you doubt the soundness of what he's up to, I don't know what to tell you.
He claims it will bring back manufacturing to make America Great again. But that's assuming all the nations on Earth he has now soured relations with will not fight back, be turned off by the instability he brings, and form other healthier coalitions to escape and punish the U.S insanity.
Meanwhile, Trump and co are endlessly raging about the dangers of a rising China superpower. Yet this is exactly the kind of alienating move that will push rival nations (that is, all nations in Trump's eyes, apparently) into the arms of China who has so much to offer the world economy right now.
Nobody knows how this will go. But by any measure it's a giant gamble with steep odds according to most experts outside of Trump's inner circle. And guess who will pay the most if it goes sideways? Trump's words himself explain it best when he said yesterday as the market losses hit $10 trillion: "it's a good time to get rich."
That is, it's a good time for the rich to buy up even more of the economy. Even his failure is a win, a deal from Donald to the rich, the only people he cares about. And maybe, if we're lucky, we less than rich suckers and losers and assholes will all get jobs repairing automation robots in a few years (that was Commerce Secretary Lutnick who actually said that).
This is as Trump flies away from his Great Recession game to play golf with the Saudis the very same day to rake in more millions from his side businesses (spending more millions of tax dollars to bring the secret service along with him on his business vacation).
From where I'm sitting it couldn't be more plain. This guy is openly conning you and you still believe he cares about you. To me that's what's scary.
Thanks for your thoughts and questions.
I’ll start by stating I’ve lost ‘on paper’ excess of $150K in last 2 days of stock market. That said, I put a bunch more in cash in mid Feb (following Buffet’s lead) so now just need to jump back in when knife is no longer falling. It’s a good time for everyone to buy equities again, once the VIX level (volatility measure) stabilizes and hedge funds reinvest. This is an opportunity for rich, middle class, poor, young or old.
I believe DJT’s overall economic plan is to remake Bretton Woods 1944 when it comes to international trade. And I support it because it will eventually help the working poor and middle class (more domestic jobs) and our youth (as well as generations not yet born). This is what makes him, IMO, a Populist. I also don’t think the tariff’s will remain higher than 10% for most countries w/ the exception of China. The market has overreacted. You are going to see deals (starting w/ Vietnam and India) prior to 4/9 implement date. Then more negotiations after that. The reciprocal levels US will impose 4/9 won’t stay at those levels long term (except for China).
We have a big debt challenge now. That if not addressed will see our standard of living start to decline. Think of how the UK has become a low trust society. That awaits us if we don’t address our debt. We kicked the can down the road for 40+ years. Now DJT isn’t kicking it anymore and there is a general freak out, resulting. Serving the debt is now a higher annual expenditure than Defense spending. That is a fact that doesn’t bode well for our global preeminence if we don’t address it. If China/Japan/Luxembourg (top 3 foreign debt buyers) stop buying our debt, say goodbye to current SS and Medicare levels. That’s a risk we can’t allow to go on, unaddressed. Tariffs are a part of addressing the debt. DOGE is another, and I’m anxious for this Team to uncover waste in Defense & Entitlements. Economic growth also needed and these actions will encourage.
The days of USA subsidizing the world are coming to a close. As rest of the world’s standard of living rises to our levels, there is no reason to have unfair/unbalanced trade to gaps levels seen in past. It needs to be more even, so we can keep our debt under control.
You asked why the Trump fakery w/ framing up other countries tariffs. This is just negotiation tactic of showing opponent high # at start, so that what you eventually get in return is good/acceptable. I’ve negotiated international business for 25+ years and this is pretty normal practice. You want your opponent to use time/energy to go after the inflated assertions so less time/energy to go after the substance.
What hasn’t happened yet, but is on the come are tax breaks. Especially for low/middle class. Meaning there’s going to be none or lower tax rates on tips, overtime AND Social Security. Can you believe the government taxes SS? This is all for Main Street first, and only Wall Street a distant 2nd.
You are free to spend emotional currency on Trump’s Bitcoin, him golfing or his spending tax dollars unnecessarily on secret service. That’s small potatoes that has no impact on the big picture.
I don’t believe Trump is trying to dismantle SS or Medicare/Medicaid. Removing tax on Social Security isn’t to destroy it, it’s to keep more $ in pockets of retired Americans. A very Populist action. I believe he’s trying to take structural steps to save the solvency of these programs.
Cheers ~
I don't see the same effort to ostracize dissenting Republicans, though.
Why do you have a "side"? Probably part of your problem, right there.
Nonsense.
There is plenty of pushback on the right, against Trump's dumb policies.
I, and many other Trump voters, have loudly objected to his veneration of Israel, his bombing of Yemen, his stupid attacks on free speech that might offend "Our Greatest Ally in the Middle East," and his curious (globalist) designs on Canada & Greenland.
Madison, I’ve seen several articles w/ photos of the anti-Trump ‘Hand’s Off’ protests today. They occurred across the country. I noticed very few minorities at these rallies. But overwhelmingly large amounts of white middle aged and older adults. Why do you think that is the case? Where are the black and latino citizens? Nowhere near a representation of our countries demographics.
I noticed that too. In San Diego I was seeing large amounts of white middle aged and older adults. I'm not sure what they were hoping to accomplish. For my part, I think its time to tune out all the Trump-haters. We had an election. Trump got the nod. Many people are very worried. Many people are hopeful. Either side might be right. But, Trump won his turn at bat. Now we just have to wait and see what happens. All those white middle aged and older adults who were carrying signs about supporting Democracy. Well, this is Democracy, baby! It's like I heard President Trump say in an interview one time: "sometimes, you just have to let things run their course." These middle-class oldsters can march around with their "Dump Trump" signs till the cows come home, as far as I am concerned. That train left the station on November 6, 2024. Now the action is elsewhere, and we all just need to wait and see what happens.
My hunch: the primary motivator is the stock market, particularly its downturn on 401(k) accounts of the salaried classes
Maybe read Matias Desmet’s The Psychology of Totalitarianism brother and see you don’t see yourself in there. It’s a great read. Good luck to you.
Sure, I'll check it out. Tell me: why is it so hard to admit that both sides are tribal?
The concept of the modern nation-state, as we understand it today, is often associated with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which established a system of sovereign states after the Thirty Years' War. For one thing it established geographical borders that were acknowledged by the various fighting factions as an example. It’s viewed as a step forward for civilization. By no means is the nation state perfect. Far from it. But it’s a whole lot better than what came before it. Lands and affiliations based on tribe, skin color, religion, etc. Simpler but far less rational. Easier but far less reasoned than the concept of nation-states. Most conservatives hold to the idea that nation-states are still the best idea around and in particular have a strong preference for the idea of the United States as a nation state and try to ascribe to things like reason and logic not emotion not virtue signaling. I don’t see these attributes so much from the Left. Huge mistakes are made but generally speaking conservatives believe a country should have borders, people should have equal opportunity under the laws based on merit and not any other factors especially something as superficial as skin color. There are only two genders assigned at birth all other designations are variations of one or the other gender. Women should compete against women. And so on. The nation state is the antithesis of the tribal state. I dont want to see the country become part of some Global New World Order some one world great big tribe that’s based on open borders, critical race theory, transgenderism., yielding or surrender of sovereign nation right to world organizations like the WHO or the UN or the WEF. You become part of that and the only ideas and innovations that are allowed to see the light of day are the ideas and solutions the world leadership approves of. That’s no good. Everything else gets suppressed. It stifles creativity, fresh ideas, counter ideas, unorthodox solutions to big problems that might work. No way to run a world. What kind of government do want here anyway?
I care much less about Trump's sexually abhorrent behavior than about he fact that he engineered, or facilitated, a mass atrocity.
The left has been taken over by the mean girls and their effeminate male brethren. Mean girls never play nice or fair. It’s just how they roll. Gradually all of the rest of us are waking up to their vacuity and are walking away. This just makes them madder, more mean, and more stupid.
Yep! This has definitely been the decade of the Mean Girls.
I agree, but I view the left as religious. While many profess atheism, they have made their ideology God, and those who point out flaws and issues are heretics and apostates. Now, I've known people farther right to operate similarly, but it is rare among those I know who are conservative. I had a brief moment when I wrote about illegal immigration this fall where my friends--mostly leftists--attacked me for even researching the problem. By that time, I had already recognized that questioning gender theory or other doctrine will get you labeled a heretic. If you do not say the words, and do the correct things, you will be cast out from society, and woe be upon you.
Exactly. Most members of the left don’t profess or practice any religion, but into the religion-hole, they have inserted ideology, with all of religion's imperatives.
That’s why if you disagree on a point of policy, you're not just mistaken— you’re EVIL, and must be shunned. Even to research a problem—just to entertain curiosity about the contours of an issue—is akin to the deepest heresy.
Completely agree with you.
the worst punishments is always for the apostates.
The Democrats are not "Left." The purpose of the Democratic Party is to suck in and suffocate any political breakout that challenges the rule of plutocracy. Even Bernie Sanders, weak tea compared to Jeremy Corbin in the UK, had to be destroyed. This was the prime mission, more important than defeating Trump.
For decades now I've rolled my eyes when anyone calls Democrats "the left". Their sole reason for existing is to dilute anything "left" that gets anywhere near even a little bit of power. You're right to point out Bernie as an illustration of this, see also "the Squad" who can be counted on for any type of this dumb shit that Matt is talking about in this article. Bobby Kennedy I'd argue came from the left, or at least a kind of left-leaning populism, with his environmentalism and suspicion of Big Pharma. They got rid of him. Ralph Nader worked with the Democrats for years until he couldn't anymore. These guys aren't even socialists yet they were too extreme. Anything coming from the left, the Democrats either Borg into assimilation or exile.
It seems like the democrats ostracized and alienated so many of their own that the ones who remain are indeed "the left".
Or, " Whats Left" lol
I think that’s what he meant.
Yup
i do love me a good double entendre. every couple years i manage a triple…but i have never once managed a quadruple hit. sigh…..someday, someday. 🙂
Dang. Can't find the head nodding emoji
As opposed to those of us who just "left."
This is the nature of religious (or in this case pseudoreligious) cults. No questioning of holy dogma permitted, and heretics — especially apostates — must be excommunicated and shunned.
I agree 100% and would only add that in addition to tribal; they act as brainwashed members of a cult. How else could rational adults believe that to become a woman, all a man has to do is put on a dress and claim it to be so?
they know its a house of cards. if they really believed they were right, they would welcome dialog.
No, they can suffer from righteous furor, be absolutely convinced they are right, and never consider hearing a challenging word.
Maybe we're both right. On the surface, they certainly appear absolutely convinced, and so it must seem to them. But at some level deep down, I think they have profound doubts. I'm always amazed how many people I talk to in Southern California absolutely will not look at a Tucker Carlson episode. Why is that, I wonder? What are they afraid of?
Reminded me of the look of horror on an intelligent friend's face when I said that I read National Review. He was truly shocked. Refused to consider my statement that the NYT had blurred the line between reporting and opinion. worse? He was a journalism professor at a major university.
Find a YouTube video of Dr Michael Nehls or read his book, The Indoctrinated Brain. He's been interviewed by Jan Jekielek of The Epoch Times, Dr Drew and Tucker Carlson and others. His is THE explanation for mass psychosis. BUT if you aren't curious and you don't possess mental resilience you won't check it out and that's the giveaway that should terrify you. That tells you that you're in the cult's pocket. Your brain has been indoctrinated physiologically. Help yourself! Just watch.
when I was a child, though I was curious about a beautiful Protestant church in my neighborhood and I passed it, looked at it through the gates, hundreds of times, I never ventured onto the property. At the time, I didn't identify my avoidance as irrational fear of some nameless consequence; it just seemed natural. Just the ways things were. To enter this beautiful and mysterious building and satisfy my curiousity would be tantamount to a betrayal of my own group (Catholic). It was unthinkable. The point is that I wasn't thinking; I was feeling: fear. Fear of the figurative loss of my group membership. The boundary was firmly set not only by the leaders of my group but also by the society at large. It was still a time of strongly dualist thinking in religion; each one of us thought we were on the Good side. In recent times, dualist thinking has emerged once again, triggered by identity politics that manipulate the base emotions undergirding dualist thinking; to remain safe among your group you must give complete allegiance. To even venture near the Other group would be to betray your own and threaten your membership in it. There is no place for you in the Other group that harbors the same dualist thinking. When simply avoiding the Other group isn't enough to secure your own group membership, you will have to vanquish the Other. The depth of how we have all been manipulated to this base level of thought and behavior is stunning in an age of "well educated elites".
Yes, the hippocampus. An interesting theory.
Hi Ken, just so you know you’re not alone there are some of us in SoCal who are subscribers to Tucker Carlson and enjoy his interviews. I also appreciate that Sasha Stone posts them on her Substack so I never miss him. So much to read with Taibbi, Shellenberger, Greenwald, Stone, AMD, Malone! I’m lucky that most of my friends read the above journalists with a little WSJ thrown in kand having lived in NYC I gotta get my fix of the NY Post.
Btw, did you read his beautiful obituary of his father who rip 3/24/25?
Thank you for the post. Who is AMD?
A Midwestern Doctor, who writes about health issues here on Substack. Check him or her out!
I wasn't able to find him or her. Maybe I searched incorrectly. When I entered AMD as the search term, it contained a lot of different names containing those letters. Do you have a link? Thank you!
Yes, I suspect the same. When you actually listen to that hearing and the specific examples held up on the Democrat side of the aisle as either protected or crossing the line, they were classic examples from law school textbooks. They pretended they were not advocating for censorship except for Chinese or Russian propaganda. Interestingly I never heard any specifics about exactly what the Chinese were pushing. Might be enlightening.
The "leadership" (i.e. those in control) differ from the rank-and-file. One may be admitted at some point from the public-info ranks to the secret-info controllers, but the point is the persistence of the dual-class system, with completely differing ethics.
I'm not sure the ethics really differ, rather than that ethics no longer enter into it. It's now all about identity. Reminds me of rabid football fans.
Cuz he’s irritating!
It seems that there's this wierd human behavior to engage in ruinous self-fulfilling prophecies. Maybe it's the fact that people can say "I told you so" (everybody likes doing that) if the prophecy comes true, and if it doesn't, they can blame the detractors.
Agreed. But I’m sure you would agree that were it not for the full support of the heavily biased liberal MSM that that house of cards would have collapsed long ago. Oh the irony, the hypocrisy, the lies they get away with. The party of inclusion, diversity, equity, who ran their entire Harris campaign based on her opponent lies and is a threat to democracy, with the implied message of course that the Dems were the party of truth tellers, and so many Americans bought it, still do, but would not, if the news media did an honest job.
The leading actors of the cult do not allow questions about the cult and should the followers , anyone or ones who tries to think for themselves are cast out if not destroyed on the spot.
No, that's not the way a totalitarian group works. They do not think or live in the reality that normal people live within. Their behaviour and tactics are from another dimension.
I wonder. It might be a subconscious fear they are wrong. Definitely know a few examples who consciously sequester themselves away from people who think differently. They acknowledge this. I am thinking of a college "professor" when I say this last example. It seems an emotional issue in that case.
One can make sense of this situation by use of Hanson’s Razor: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”
She misunderstood the purpose of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. She thought their purpose was to investigate literal “foreign affairs”. Being as dumb as the average sedimentary rock, she just misunderstood her committee assignment.
And yes, for readers from Portland, I’m joking. She really is a malicious jackass AND has a profound stupidity problem.
"a club that includes Glenn Greenwald, Joe Rogan, Jimmy Dore, Tulsi Gabbard and a long list of others, including non-Americans like Julian Assange"
Real human nature stuff writ large here. Evokes horrid episodes from Soviet & Maoist past. An enemy of the party is a subhuman fit to be eliminated.
But a FALLEN member of the party is worse. A betrayer. A Judas. A traitor to the holy cause.
I fear we're gonna see a lot more of this before the tide (hopefully) ebbs.
they cannot abide anyone fleeing the funny farm for fear of a stampede, therefore examples must be made.....though they are crazy and bad at doing this. IC was trying to do it for them, but thats failed too.
I think the word you are looking for is 'apostate.'
Didn't realize I was looking for a word at all.
But, yes, apostate certainly fits. As do heretic, nonconformist, convert . . .
Real polar bear in Arlington meme there with Jimmy Dore, Matt (especially recently) and Tulsi lol.
Here is the difference: Republicans do not stick together for votes, etc. They are critical thinkers but it costs them; Democrats demonize everyone who doesn't buy the whole schtick. It's a religion for them and they do not care what they have to destroy to get their way. And they are about power and will discard any narrative or policy to oppose Trump. They are by any means necessary people. Republicans have actual lives they live.
Each time i read a story highlighting this about Dems, it reminds me of the beginning of Cake's Comfort Eagle:
We are building a religion
We are building it bigger
We are widening the corridors
And adding more lanes
We are building a religion
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers
For these pendant key chains
To resist it is useless
It is useless to resist it
Sounds rather like the Borg to me . . . what's really hilarious is that the "resistance" doesn't realize the real resistance has taken the reins, at least for a few years. Go Donnie, go Elon! Smash as much as you can while you can. We need you to do this.
Cake. Nice!
The difference is the Republican Party is not a cult.
You have got to be kidding!
Go on, explain yourself.
I’m also curious to know. Trump has created a very big tent party when many competing policies. All the time you read of policies where even some of his cabinet members disagree. I see many prominent republicans disagreeing vehemently with his tariff stance both in the media and in government right now. I remember when Biden’s acuity was so obviously failing, only one democrat even told the truth, he is now out the party. Where were the other prominent democrats calling him out for it? I didn’t see any all of them were singing from the same hymn book.
Well, it’s not just one cult like the democrats. It’s got many
The Democrats are a monolith joined in their hatred of Trump and free speech that contradicts their liturgy. The Republicans are a smorgasbord, including a bunch of Dems who had enough of the bs. You'll see lots of infighting with Republicans. The Dems all goosestep to the same beat. Look at CA. They've ruined the state. it's an overregulated hellhole focused on virtue signaling instead of good governance. the new mayor of sf is making the first signs of progress, but LA is hobbled with embarrassing levels of corruption and utter stupidity at Spring Street.
Is it possible under that system that many of us are neither Republicans nor Democrats?
Sure, it's likely. Now convince 20 friends that's true. Good luck.
Hence, by your own description the Republicans are not a cult.
Right. Now. They were a cult in the early 2000s, but many of those acolytes are now democrats. Some are still republicans, though. Mitch M is a good example.
After earlier defeats, Dems learned to remain in lock-step, castigating any of their own daring to deviate from party orthodoxy.
Maybe election losses explain it? I was a Dem my whole life until lately; the party is not recognizable.
Are we sure it wasn’t election WINS that changed the party? From the party of “the working (man)” to the party of Social Justice. ‘Looking at you, IL State Sen. Obama.
Republicans are critical thinkers?
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-sentiment-ticks-up-shows-post-election-partisan-flip-2024-11-22/
To a partisan lunatic, critical thinking is when people agree with them
Oh, about these college protests. I just do not see foreign visa holders the same as US citizens. I don't see how they come over here and physically intimidate Jewish students, use language like "from river to the sea," support Hamas and be all together disruptive. If they had been truly peaceful, I'd be more tolerant. I try to imagine myself going to a foreign country to study, then being the spokesperson for a group that was holding the university hostage. We have an application process, and they omit their intentions on them or they wouldn't be allowed in. Would any other country purposely admit students who planned to be activists against their own people or positions? I don't think so. Now the American citizens doing this (and the university professors are big on teaching post-colonialism, CRT, oppressor/oppressed narratives where they nearly imply violence is acceptable if you are oppressed-I was part of a university faculty, so I know what they are up to), I suppose we have to be more tolerant as long as they are not breaking laws/rules or intimidating our students so they can't go to school and study. But this is more complicated than simple free speech within our own country. I would never behave that way in a foreign country of any kind.
This is the irony...why don't they protest in their own country? Do they not have the rights to do so? That is what they should be protesting. Perhaps all these college kids should be protesting the fact that their colleges are sitting on big, fat endowments but continue to raise tuition for low value degrees.
Probably... (a) the US is where they happen to be at the moment, and (b) their country isn't arming and funding Israel, or not to anywhere near the same extent.
Exactly.
(a) they are guests in this country- granted a privilege, not a right to be here, and (b) it's not "THEIR country...arming and funding Israel..." It's OUR (American's) country. So, if they don't like what OUR country is doing, they should get on a plane and vamoose. I don't head up to Canada to protest the actions of their government that I don't like.
This is the US, where we have in writing that everyone has the same innate rights, including visitors, tourists, students, green card workers, with due process, habeas corpus, and the right to representation. The Bill of Rights is a constraint on government power over people, and a recognition that all people are created equal. Lose those rights for the enemy d’jour, and it will be you snatched off the streets and disappeared for a tweet next. There are laws against behavior, not ideas or writings, and courts where they are decided in public. It’s our job to protect these hard won rights or they evaporate for everyone.
I can't recall anyone standing up for the rights of the J6ers. They were attacked by DC Police & lied about. Everyone seemed fine with taking their rights.
As I recall, about HALF the country was NOT okay with what happened to them.
The other half..
Half does not equal "everyone," as you stated in your prior comment.
You know, it is people like YOU that are the reason the people on the right cannot get together. You just want to argue about everything.
Who is 'everyone?' I sure as fuck wasn't fine with it.
Then the comment wasn't for you.
Well, actually both Glenn and Matt stood up for them to some degree. So they feel they are consistent, but I do not see this as apples to apples.
I wasn't talking about Glenn & Matt..
Yeah, I was just making sure they know we don't mean them. Ha.
Okay (^_^)
None of us have the right to shut down a university library.
The idea seems to be to extend the umbrella of free speech protection over almost any physical activity, as long as one shouts obnoxious slogans while doing it. Because what else can you do when your free speech is not persuasive enough to get you what you want?
Good thing no one did.
https://mondoweiss.net/2025/03/nine-students-arrested-at-barnard-during-pro-palestine-sit-in/
Why lie about this?
The protesters only staged a sit-in. They did not shut down the library, as you claimed. Even your article doesn't state they shut it down.
Once again, easily disproven lies.
https://www.thebarnardbulletin.com/post/cuad-launches-sit-in-at-barnard-s-milstein-library-declares-building-the-dr-hussam-abu-safiya-lib
A "Barnard Community Message" was sent to all students via email at 2:19 p.m., stating that "Due to a disruption in the Milstein Library and obstruction to the entrance, the Milstein Library is closed until further notice." Students received an additional email from Gary Maroni, the Director of Community Safety & Emergency Response, asking students to "avoid the Milstein Center."
True. But the fact that they mask up a la Hamas to exercise the 1A is BS.
They mask up for the same reason the KKK did. They want the option of breaking the law should the opportunity arise.
You're wrong. Foreigners here by the government's largesse to be educated or to work are not free to engage in protests against America and its policies. And that largesse can be immediately withdrawn and them expelled. You sound very naive. They are NOT Americans. The rights in the Constitution are for Americans. Grow up!
No, Maenad is correct. The Bill of Rights protects every PERSON on US soil.
Depending on their legal status. Aliens do not have the same rights as citizens and can be expelled by the government on the basis of the govt's "right to self-preservation" (Turner v. Williams).
Incorrect. I repeat, the Bill of Rights protects EVERY PERSON on US soil, regardless of legal/citizenship status. Look it up. Also, the "right to self-preservation" does not apply in the cases of these university students.
No, it is NOT exactly the same! If you lie or omit on your application your visa can be REVOKED, which is what happened here. So that is not true. WHY do we have to put up with students lying on an application, intimidating our students, and holding our universities hostage? We do not. We have to be more tolerant with our own citizens since guess what, they can't be deported. But they CAN be prosecuted if they break rules and laws. So that's just not true. Now I share the concern about free speech, but this has been over the line.
Good grief, you're STILL spouting this nonsense? You clearly haven't done your homework.
Liberals always accuse conservatives of their sins. Look in the mirror.
Amen!
I would like to see some college protests against Palestinians at the same level, some conservative protests at the same level . I’m willing to wager a bet, they would be treated differently. Because when the left confronts the right, they hit, throw things, destroy their set ups..and the police and schools sit idly by.
Also, Matt said that he doesn't like the idea of a foreign student coming here and not being able to raise his hand and debate in class. I don't either! But that is not taking over a library and threatening and even attacking Jewish students. I think if that's all they did and just quietly protested without doing that stuff, they would have been fine.
These “threatened” students have been forever infantalized by demanding safe spaces, whining that their feelings are facts, and that they are somehow supreme beings. If a student has their precious feels hurt by another student protesting that the university funds genocide they can go back to their dorm. No one would ever know what religion they practice without their toddler style shrieking. We have all seen the same vicious brutality and inhumanity live-streamed for over a year while the whole world watches in horror. Time to stop.
Which group do you refer to? LOL This should apply to ALL the students. Nobody has the right to take over libraries and break university rules. And who is committing genocide over there? Both of them, it appears to me. It's war and Hamas killed and raped civilians. And took Americans hostage. Garbage has gone on forever ad nauseum. We do not need this stuff going on on our campuses. Sit on the curb, debate in class. Watch your language. Advocate for peace not supporting Hamas. Do not obstruct doorways, take over libraries, or attack anyone. We sure as hell do n ot have to put up with that from noncitizens. At any rate, they can protest peacefully without advocating for violence, attacking Jewish students, and/or taking over libraries, camping out on lawns. Get real.
Not how protests work. We’ve been protesting American foreign policy loudly for my entire life. It’s only when Israel First Lobby bought all our politicians that it’s now being termed illegal.
And, you’ve got it entirely backwards, genocide as defined by law is what is happening to Palestinians now and since before most of us were born. It is a war crime to deprive a people of food, water, and medicine. They have the recognized right as an occupied nation to fight back at those so inhuman and monstrous as to employ cowardly snipers to murder children and encourage soldiers to rape prisoners or war.
(P.S. “Hamas rapes” have been documented as false.)
Documented by whom? They've been "documented" as real, too. Please. And what they did was genocide, period. And also those reports of food, water and medicine, have been reported false, too. As well as Hamas admitting not nearly as many civilians have been killed. Also reported. So why you believe one set of "reports" is absurd. I don't believe you can take a side in this idiocy and have any idea of the truth. And protests are illegal if they break campus or city rules. It's that simple. People have always gotten arrested for blocking streets or other types of disruptions. Maybe you weren't at the protests because people get arrested at them if they are disruptive or breaking laws. Or destroying property. That's how they work.
Well, the left media would not treat them the same for sure. But if they are citizens, they won't be deported.
The so-called left and right all agree on foreign wars and austerity at home. We need to get multi-dimensional and add Up and Down to left/right.
Right/left/up/down whatever.
Pointing out that Israel is running over live civilians with tanks is intimidating Jewish students? I guess is some existential threat sense, by countering the idea that no Jew is safe unless they are allowed unfettered to take over a region, annihilate the native population and install an apartheid government.
100%
The behavior of the Democrat Party is the behavior of a cult. It's not difficult to understand once you accept that.
This is correct, Mike. I think of it as the Obama cult. He was not really a political leader, but a cult leader instead. Every evil that you see in society today can be laid at the feet of the totalitarian progressivism that he ushered in. He made his followers feel like they were special, the chosen ones. And he and Michele demonized everybody else. You couldn’t just oppose his policies, if you opposed him at all, you were a racist. And then a bigot and then a homophobe and then a transphobe. See how easy it is? I know that many independents and moderate Democrats have seen the light, but the progressives never will. They are drowning in the Kool-Aid.
I'm none of those - I'm a phonyphobe.
🤣
"Its not who we are"
Democracy!
Yup
Mob rule.
You are using the Right’s redefinition of progressive. Progressives are pro-democracy , anti-corporate, and anti-war, the exact opposite of what Obama and the Democratic Party stand for.
Then there are no real progressives in Congress!
Pretty much. Dennis Kucinich was one, and the Dems drove him out. You can’t support the agenda of the Democratic Party and be progressive.
Why? Because the Dems are totally self-absorbed.
Government assistance is not designed to boost poor people so that they will no longer need government assistance. Jobs programs provide jobs for only the program administrators. Go to the housing projects and give 'em a basketball court.
Everything the Dems do is designed to get them votes from people who been reduced to perpetual poverty and dependence.
And when anyone becomes an obstacle to the Dem self-licking ice cream, that person must be destroyed.
Read Daniel Patrick Moynihan's essay on how the welfare programs designed by Democrats assured the breakdown of the Black family and perpetual poverty and government dependency, Moynihan was vilified as a racist then, but time has borne out his analysis and prophecy. That so many Blacks have left the Democrat party is testimony to their awakening to this deal with the devil.
And Thomas Sowell. Same message
Socio-economics is more accurate than racial. This is one of the several reasons that DEI is such horseshit.
However I will concede that we need diversity for restaurants.
Yep. In order to achieve their desired totalitarianism, they must ensure everyone become dependent on the government.
Looking forward to hearing about this on ATW. Holding your composure the way you did Matt…. That was very admirable of you, I hope when she tries to settle in 3 months, that you ride it out until the end. The closed door settlements do nothing to prevent these creatures from repeating this cycle of bullshit.
Crucify that terrible woman, Matt!
Wonder if she will pull in some sort of insurance. Are these "weenies" bonded by their states?
Probably bonded by DNC.
I bet you are right!
We found out that County Commissioners were required to have bonds and it turned out the Obligee was the state. Huh???
Insurance usually excludes criminal or negligent behavior as a coverable event.
Is the lawsuit for defamation? I think that would be a civil case. A citizen can't bring a criminal case.
Insurance in, courtroom typically out.
This is simply another example of the left demonstrating that they are repulsive 🤮 people. The positions they take on issues such as open borders, DEI, boys playing girls’ sports and transgender surgeries for minors are viewed as repulsive by normal people. The remaining normals in the Democratic Party are slowly leaving the party, causing the remaining group to be even more radical. It will be a slow death, but the Democratic Party is, indeed, dying. RIP 🪦
I agree thar they are dying...I just don't agree with 'rest in peace'. They deserve the worst they can get.
You’re right, I lost my head👍🤷♂️🤷♂️
Repelled, repulsive… want to trade an adjective for a verb? I’d figured any within the ‘range of normal’ already departed. It’s refreshing to encounter an optimist. ‘
It is a valid point for further consideration: as the “range of normal’ people leave, the remainder accentuate the degree of radicalization. Lacking any counterbalance, the result is an unbounded synergistic effect on the radical faction.
Some writers forecast a period of 20 years for recovery to occur. Others say they go the way of the Whigs. I’m for the latter.
I haven't seen any of those "Hate has no Place Here" lawn signs since the election. The Biden folks must have used some of that $2billion at Citi to collect them. Since they lost, Hate has been not only welcome to stay but encouraged to do so and multiply.
i guwss hate has no home there, except hate for Trump and non democrats......whuch id a lot of people.
Seems like Citibank has been in the Democrats pockets for some time.
They have expanded the 2 minutes of hate. Now it's 24/7.
I forever wrote off the Democratic Party when I watched them deliberately try to destroy the lives and reputations of the women whom Bill Clinton had sexually abused. Not only did the Democrats do that, but Democrat voters accepted the attacks on those women without making a comment. Much in the same way the Democrats never said a bad world about Teddy Kennedy killing that woman at Chappaquiddick.
And women’s groups were silent as well.
Women's groups, if they are Dem affiliated, are still silent about the blatant and illegal abuses of women's rights via Title 9. latest example at University of Maryland fencing match. None so blind as those who WILL not see.
Add to the list of Smeareds, Justice Kavanaugh who was subjected to what amounted to a kangaroo trial at his SC confirmation hearing. Front and center among his tormentors were Harris and Korbuchar. I often wonder if K's accuser ever reflects on how she was manipulated by the Dems, how she contributed to one of the worst examples of the denial of decency and due process.
Tulsi Gabbard was cut off from the Dem Party as soon as she labeled Hillary for what she is, a warmonger.
She's the one who KO'd Harris too, who then never even made it to the primaries, back in '20.
And then she became one herself this month
That's what I don't get. I cheered when the Senate confirmed her as DNI. Now, I'm not so sure. Still trying to figure out if her "anti-war" stance was a lie, or if her mind was "changed" in the deep dark recesses of Langley.
Exactly.
The left is a cult or cult like. Two of my adult kids, seem to have cut off relations with their parents, because we voted for Trump and won’t understand the trans issue the way they see it. I have never liked the left and their ways but I thought some of it was politically motivated, on my part. I’ve tried to understand why they get behind certain issues and find some common ground. I’m pretty much done doing that now. There’s nothing I can relate to as far as they go now. Even if it means no relationship with 2 out of 3 of my children. What a time we live in. If I didn’t have grandchildren with the one remaining child, I really wouldn’t have much to live for, look forward to. I spent my whole adult life being a parent and loving it. It’s completely shattered in the blink of an eye really. I have zero patience for most people these days whereas I used to want to help the world be a better place. I keep my circle small, thanks to democrats truly ruining what was once good.
Well, my children voted for Harris and started pulling the “ I can’t believe you voted for Trump shit”. I merely told them we were visiting our attorney to rewrite our will, their jaws dropped. Things changed, but we are still visiting the attorney or spending every dime enjoying our remaining years. They are privileged, we did that to them. My husband and I worked hard since we were 14, supported both our parents and a few siblings. I’m done taking care of others. We now joined a country club (costly) and play golf a lot. Stopped free babysitting, free meals and trips. Someone earlier said follow the money. It’s true, sad but true
Yeah parenting is not for the weak, even when the kids are grown up. Dreams shattered but gotta get back on the horse and figure out how to exist in this crappy world and still have some sanity. Have fun playing golf!
Live your best life!! That’s a wonderful attitude considering the circumstance.
Sad in a way though.
Sorry, but that's cold. Don't use money to punish your children for having different politics from you.
Why? It’s not their money , they are not entitled. I can donate to charities. I don’t look at it as a punishment, it’s a choice. If they think we are greedy capitalists, then they can enjoy the splendor of government ownership
Look, either put your kids in your will or don't. But making whether they inherit from you a "gotcha" in a political argument is how you make them hate you. I know people who went no contact with rich parents just because said parents used giving and taking away financial things as rewards for acting grateful and punishments for criticizing them. They decided they'd literally rather be homeless than get jerked around like that.
Exactly right. Just a form of manipulation.
I grew up in that house. "Do what I want you to do and be who I want you to be and I'll give you the money." No thank you, I will earn it myself. At least I know when I am working and when I am not.
Before the government got involved it was the duty of children to take care of their elderly parents.
Yeah, but my point is, that shouldn't be used as a power flex in a political argument. It would be the same thing if an adult child with elderly parents had their parents yell "how could you vote for this person?" at them, and replied with, "oh, well I guess I won't pay for your home health aide then".
The problem with your position is that according to the natural law children owe their infirm and elderly parents support in exchange for the support they received when they were children. This is why Achilles lamented his decision to obtain glory instead of old age. He states in the Iliad with a great deal of pain that he will be unable to repay his father for the kindnesses his father showed him. Similarly the Biblical commandment honor (meaning to repay your debt) your father and mother.
Oh well, we will agree to disagree.
That's heartbreaking. Hopefully they'll come around once all the woke nonsense dies down, as it seems to slowly be doing.
That’s so sad
Good for your kids
Matt you showed such self restraint and were brilliant to not take the bait. To see the former propaganda minister, Ms. Jankowicz there to speak about freedom of speech is simultaneously Orwellian and Stalinist. But we have learned that this is their MO, to try to discredit an intrepid journalist who deserves our thanks just based on the twitter files alone is despicable. That’s all they have invective and bs. You will win this case. Makes sure your lawyer demands a public apology in addition to cold hard cash!
Here's why: Progressivism is a religion. Its policies are revealed truths. Questioning them is heresy. Heretics should be burned at the stake.
You forgot the new daddy of all examples: Elon Musk. There has never been a smear campaign this concerted, this voluminous, this dishonest—and that's saying something.
Trump
As a Tesla owner, I'm feeling a tad terrorized, actually. It's crazy they were all for him, until they were against him, because 'Trump.'
With very little pushback. My example exactly. The left gets treated differently.